[Provisional translation]
[Opening Statement by Prime Minister Takaichi]
From 3:00 to 4:05 PM today, the Asia Zero-Emission Community (AZEC) Plus Online Summit on Energy Resilience was held. In light of the current situation in the Middle East, this meeting was convened through the leadership of Japan with the aim of advancing cooperation with Asian countries that share serious concerns, with a view to enhancing the resiliency of supply chains for energy and critical goods.
The meeting was attended by a large number of participants, including President Marcos of the Philippines, Prime Minister Anwar of Malaysia, Prime Minister Wong of Singapore, Prime Minister Anutin of Thailand, Prime Minister Hung of Viet Nam, President Ramos-Horta of Timor-Leste, Prime Minister Rahman of Bangladesh, and Prime Minister KIM Min-seok of the Republic of Korea. We also issued a Chair’s Statement based on what we discussed in the meeting.
The Government of Japan is now undertaking various measures as it makes all efforts to ensure a stable supply of energy and critical goods to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of the Japanese people. At the same time, Japan is closely connected with other Asian countries through supply chains and other means, giving us a mutually dependent relationship. For example, we rely on Asian countries to supply us with medical equipment used by dialysis patients and medical supplies such as waste fluid containers and gloves needed for surgery.
Fuel supply shortages and supply-chain disruptions in Asia cause difficulties in procuring such medical supplies heading from Asia to Japan and also result in major negative societal and economic impacts for Japan. It was from this perspective that today I announced the launch of "Partnership On Wide Energy and Resources Resilience Asia," or "POWERR Asia" for short, with the aim of strengthening supply chain resilience within the Asian region.
This framework aims to cooperate in emergency responses through financing for the procurement of crude oil, petroleum products, and maintaining supply chains in Asia and addressing structural responses such as establishing stockpiling and release systems as well as the construction and utilization of storage tanks to expand the number of days of crude oil reserves within the region; securing critical minerals and diversifying energy resources such as biofuels; and promoting industrial advancement through energy-saving initiatives.
Rather than forge relationships in which Japan merely provides oil to countries that have fallen upon hard times because of the Middle East situation, Japan will, together with other Asian countries, pursue a path by which Asia as a whole is able to become strong and prosperous by building resilient supply chains for energy and critical minerals.
Even in normal circumstances, procuring crude oil requires tremendous financial capacity, namely, creditworthiness. Now, with the price of crude oil rising rapidly, a large number of countries and companies are facing a situation in which their creditworthiness is insufficient for procuring crude oil.
The cooperation Japan will provide in financial terms through this scheme will make it possible to offset those insufficiencies. The total amount of financial cooperation is approximately US$10 billion. If converted to crude oil and petroleum product procurement by Asian countries, the support would be equivalent to up to about 1.2 billion barrels (yearly) of crude oil, roughly one year's worth of crude oil imports for ASEAN. Bolstering supply chains in other Asian countries through this cooperation will, just by itself, contribute to strengthening the Japanese economy.
This initiative will also lead to an opportunity to further develop the Asia Zero Emission Community (AZEC), which aims to simultaneously achieve energy security, economic growth, and decarbonization, by incorporating perspectives on economic and energy resilience.
Today we agreed to evolve AZEC as "AZEC2.0." This POWERR Asia, an initiative for ensuring the stable supply of energy while fostering supply chain resilience together with Asian nations, embodies the realization of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) advocated by the Takaichi administration. I will continue to advance Responsible Japanese Diplomacy Creating Peace and Prosperity.
I will end my opening remarks here.
(Reporter)
I am Takahashi, with the Yomiuri Shimbun. During the AZEC meeting just held, did any of the national leaders say that they want Japan to provide crude oil? And, once again I would like to hear your thoughts on that at this juncture.
(Prime Minister Takaichi)
I will refrain from answering questions about our diplomatic exchanges.
The new partnership with Asia that I just announced is not one that involves the release of Japan's stockpiled crude oil, and there will be no adverse impacts whatsoever on Japan's domestic supply and demand.
It is instead a means for Japan and Asian countries to coordinate in securing crude oil and related goods. In any case, we do not have a relationship in which Japan simply provides oil to countries in distress as a result of the situation in the Middle East. The intention is to proceed down a pathway by which Japan and other Asian countries together build resilient supply chains for both energy and critical minerals, thereby enabling Asia as a whole to become strong and prosperous.