Japan Foreign Minister to visit Iran

Baku. 9 October. REPORT.AZ/ Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida plans to visit Tehran in late October to discuss trade ties with Iranian officials, Report informs Japanese government sources say.

The two countries plan to set up a joint committee to deal with energy and infrastructure development plans, as well as other economic issues.

Dalga Khatinoglu, an expert on Iran’s energy sector, told Press TV that Tokyo can play an important role in Iran’s energy sector once the US-engineered sanctions against the country are lifted.

“Iran’s both upstream and downstream projects are quite interesting for Japan,” he said.

“Iran needs $185 billion investment in upstream oil and gas projects in the next five years. The country also needs to invest $70 billion in its petrochemical projects. Japan has experience, investment might, and progressive technologies in both spheres,” he added.

Khatinoglu, who is the head of Iran news service at Trend News Agency, believes that despite the withdrawal of Japan’s INPEX from Iran’s Azadegan oil field project, Tehran can still count on Japanese companies.