TOKYO: Japan plans to start talks with Iran toward an investment agreement as Tokyo intends to remove sanctions on Tehran following the recent nuclear deal between P5+1 group countries and Iran.
The decision comes after Japan’s State Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Daishiro Yamagiwa visited Tehran this month at the head of a delegation representing big companies, the business daily the Nikkei said.
The Nikkei said executive from major trading houses such as Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co. and Itochu, as well as plant-engineering giant JGC and big-name banks accompanied Yamagiwa in the visit.
The delegation of 28 Japanese companies, 10 oil companies, and 18 banks and financial institutions arrived in Tehran on August 8 for a two-day visit and held talks with Iran’s senior officials, including Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh. The Japanese delegation’s Iran visit is was aimed at quickly normalizing economic relations once sanctions are lifted on Tehran.
“Behind-the-scenes bilateral discussions have laid the groundwork for working-level talks Tokyo hopes to begin after the sanctions end,” the paper said, citing unnamed government sources. The Nikkei added that Japan is eager to restore amicable relations with Iran and secure stakes in resource development projects there.
In negotiating the investment pact, Japan plans to ask that its companies be treated the same as Iranian businesses and that their investment assets be protected, the paper further said.
Iran had granted preferential rights to Japan’s state-owned Inpex Corp. to develop the country’s South Azadegan oilfield but the company withdrew from the project in 2010 due to U.S. pressures.
Tehran also accounted for 10 percent of Japan’s oil imports before sanctions cut them to five percent. The Nikkei said Japan now wants to raise the purchases to the previous level. The Nikkei said Toyo Engineering, which has built refining facilities in Iran, was looking into returning to Iran.
Nissan Motor is also eyeing Iran’s huge market, asking parts suppliers whether they can resume shipments to the country, the paper added. At the beginning of 1970, up to 30 percent of all Japanese oil imports came from Iran. After the victory of the Islamic revolution in Iran, this figure has gradually decreased, reaching 10 percent by 2010.
Japan was one of 11 nations exempted from sanctions on countries that buy oil from Iran. However, Japan’s oil imports from Iran were slashed in line with the country’s support for the international community over Iran’s nuclear energy program.
Japan joined the sanctions against Iran in 2011. The country imports on average about 100 million barrels of “black gold” in a month. Tokyo currently sources five percent of its crude oil from Iran under an interim deal between Iran and the West in November 2013. Japan hopes to raise oil imports from Iran to the pre-sanctions level.
