Trade minister Don Farrell says there are more opportunities for Australia to ink clean energy deals with Japan as our major trading partner, according to AFR.
“There are opportunities not just for Australia as Japan’s number one energy supplier, but also for Japan and Australia to co-operate to support energy transition across the region,” Farrell told AFR.
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The trade minister this week met with Japan’s ambassador to Australia, Shingo Yamagami, and is expected to visit Tokyo in October to discuss trade opportunities with the Kishida government.
Australia focusing its attention on Japan as an alternative export market to China, which recently placed tariffs and restrictions on $20 billion worth of wine, coal, beef, barley and other products.
Farrell told AFR that Australia’s role providing green energy would take the bilateral relationship to “new heights”.
“The future of our bilateral economic relationship is bright, as we look at ways to transform and decarbonise our economies through the use of clean energy technologies and supply chains,” he said.
The annual Australia-Japan Joint Business Conference will be held in Tokyo in early October, with government heads and business executives from Japanese and Australian expected to attend in person.
Australian coal, iron ore and LNG comprise most of the exports to the world’s third-largest economy, but the report said Japanese investors were increasingly focused on clean energy projects in Australia.
In 2020, the Australian and Japanese governments signed an MoU on hydrogen and fuel cells, followed in June last year by the formation of a partnership on decarbonisation.
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“New energy partnerships are expected to drive a return in dealmaking between Australian and Japanese companies to pre-pandemic levels this year as Japan’s ongoing need for imported energy generates activity,” the report said.
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