ABU DHABI (Kyodo) Japan and the United Arab Emirates will strengthen ties in energy conservation and renewable energy, the two sides said at a meeting of their trade ministers.
Trade minister Masayuki Naoshima told his counterpart, Muhammad al-Hamili, during talks Sunday that Japan will send a joint delegation from the public and private sectors to a trade fair on renewable energy to be held in Abu Dhabi in January, Japanese officials said.
Al-Hamili said he "is aware of" Japan's interest in renewing rights to an oil field it has developed in the United Arab Emirates and added that he wishes Japan well in its bid to construct the Persian Gulf country's first nuclear power plant, the officials said. A Japan-U.S. consortium is competing against two others led by France and South Korea for the contract.
The UAE is Japan's second-largest supplier of crude oil.