Video Message by Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio at the ASEAN Business and Investment Summit (ABIS)

I am KISHIDA Fumio, the Prime Minister of Japan. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the opportunity to address everyone today in the presence of the business community and the governments representing ASEAN.

Japan will work to improve connectivity through activities such as increasing investment in ASEAN, economic partnership agreements, infrastructure development, and establishing stable supply chains, in order to set Asia on a further growth trajectory by overcoming various difficulties such as the pandemic, effects of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, and high global prices, all while achieving both growth and sustainability by solving social issues.

One good example of expanding investment and improving connectivity is addressing climate change. The ASEAN economy is expected to grow by about 2.7 times by 2050. The challenge of securing the energy, infrastructure, and other resources needed for such growth while simultaneously addressing climate change is a major challenge. I am sure that all of you here are aware of the difficulty of decarbonizing the ASEAN economy in a single step.

I believe that the idea of introducing transition technologies is important to achieving economic growth while reducing CO2 emissions to the maximum extent possible.

Some estimates suggest that the need for transition finance in Asia as a whole will amount to a cumulative total of about 40 trillion USD by 2050. How should we attract these funds? Japan will work together with ASEAN to meet this challenge.

Japan looks forward to the challenge of green transformation, in other words, a major transformation of energy, all industries, and ultimately the economy and society, and to sharing its technology and know-how with ASEAN. Japan, together with ASEAN and other like-minded countries, aims to materialize the Asia Zero Emission Community Concept that will bring transition finance to Asia.

Next year will mark the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation. To mark this milestone, Japan will hold an ASEAN-Japan Business Summit in Japan. I look forward to meeting you all in Japan in person next year.

Finally, I would like to conclude my remarks by wishing for the further development of ASEAN and the success of this Summit.