Japan decided Thursday to boost its infrastructure support for emerging and developing nations, referred to as the "Global South," in a bid to curb their dependence on China and Russia for vital materials and components for batteries and solar panels.
In updating its strategy to expand infrastructure exports, the government also refrained from mentioning economic cooperation with Russia for the second straight year, as Moscow has been at war with Ukraine since February 2022.
At the Group of Seven summit that ended May 21 in Hiroshima, the leaders from the advanced economies agreed to establish a framework by the end of this year to strengthen the supply chain of renewable energy-related products for emerging and developing countries.
In its revised strategy, the administration of Prime Minister Fumio Kishida pledged to accelerate support in the Global South for infrastructure development, including manufacturing bases and transportation networks, as well as the use of hydrogen and ammonia.
Japan, meanwhile, has abandoned its plan to deepen economic cooperation with Russia in fields such as port development, medical treatment and renewable energy, presented by then-Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in talks with President Vladimir Putin in 2016.
The government set a target in its 2020 strategy to increase the infrastructure order value for Japanese companies to ¥34 trillion ($243 billion) by 2025. The value stood at ¥24.4 trillion in 2020.