Vision 2030: Creating Strategic Partnership with Japan Japan Stands Ready to Help Saudi Arabia Implement Its Aramco, While Telecoms Giant Softbank Group Corp
121st year | no. 42,289 ISSN 0289-1956 © THE JAPAN TIMES, LTD., 2017 SAUDI ARABIA FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2017 Vision 2030: Creating strategic partnership with Japan Japan stands ready to help Saudi Arabia implement its Aramco, while telecoms giant SoftBank Group Corp. launched a huge technology investment wide-ranging Vision 2030 plan and to reduce the country’s fund in conjunction with the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund (PIF). dependence on oil. Designed to target “meaningful, long-term investments in companies and foundational plat- Japan and Saudi Arabia have a 62-year history of form businesses that seek to enable the next age strong diplomatic, trade and business relations, of innovation,” according to SoftBank, the fund but the signing of the comprehensive investment raised $93 billion in its fi rst major closing in May. and socioeconomic development blueprint Saudi- That impressive sum of capital commitments Japan Vision 2030, in March, signals a new excit- for funding delights Okuda, who feels PIF and ing period as the two countries align to accelerate SoftBank’s Vision Fund sends a very positive sig- economic development in the kingdom. nal to Japanese companies to build links with the Connections between the continental pow- kingdom. erhouses are at an all-time high. Saudi Arabia “Saudi Arabia is a special country, with huge is Japan’s main investment destination in the fi nancial potential,” he says, adding, “In the short IMAGE: Cabinet Public Relations O of Japan) (of the Government ce O Cabinet Public Relations IMAGE: Middle East, accounting for around 70 percent term, it has challenges to overcome, but in the of its investments in the region; bilateral trade medium and long-term, there are tremendous between the two reached a record $56 billion in opportunities for Japanese enterprises.
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