Beyond Five Decades: Nurturing Enduring Ties Between Qatar and Japan

With diplomatic relationship that dates to 1972, Qatar and Japan have been important bilateral partners for over five decades. Cooperation across vital areas has grown richer and more robust, over time. HE Satoshi Maeda, Ambassador of Japan to the State of Qatar, delves into some key points, in this interview. Amb. Maeda speaks to Bridges about developments in business and trade relations, in cultural exchange and people-to-people ties, cooperation that picots on Qatar’s diversity, as well as economic and technological partnerships in the evolving energy sector.

Trade and Business Relations

For over 50 years, Japan and Qatar have steadily developed their relationship on mutual trust and friendship, as the stable supply of LNG and oil from Qatar has supported Japan’s economic growth for a long time. Since the 1990s, Japanese companies have contributed to the full-scale construction of LNG production plants in Qatar, among the major crude oil suppliers to Japan. Imports from Qatar also include helium and oil products. While Qatar’s exports to Japan are predominantly energy-related, Japan’s exports to Qatar are primarily automotive products, electronics, machinery, metro, and tramways. Major Japanese companies also contributed to vital infrastructure projects in Qatar, such as the Doha Metro, Hamad International Airport, the giant solar power plant in Al-Kharsaah, as well as the expansion projects in the North Field, which is seen as the cornerstone of Qatar’s economic prosperity.

In recent years, the volume of trade exchange between the two countries has likewise increased. Japanese exports to Qatar amounted to approximately US $1.23 billion in 2022, with an increase from the US $0.76 billion in 2021, while imports from Qatar reached about US $13.05 billion in 2022, up from about US $9.57 billion in 2021 due to rising oil prices; although, trade volume of LNG decreased.

Expanding cooperation between Japan and Qatar has long been welcomed and encouraged by both sides. Prime Minister Kishida’s visit to Qatar in July this year demonstrated the two nations’ strong commitment to extending and strengthening energy ties and economic cooperation. During the visit, many top executives of Japanese companies accompanied PM Kishida; they had an audience with HH Tamim, Ministers, and representatives of Qatar’s private sector. The Japanese Government will continue to actively support the promotion of investment in Qatar. Japan hopes that cooperation will be promoted in the field of semiconductors and batteries, which are promising investment areas of Japan.

Cultural Exchange and People-to-People Ties

Cultural exchange has long been a focus in our relations with Qatar, as we believe that ties between peoples and cultures strengthen the bilateral relationships between countries. We’ve been promoting Japanese culture in Qatar through various endeavors, including participating in international and local events held in Doha—such as the Doha International Book Fair, Qatar Travel Mart, Hospitality Qatar, etcetera—as well as organizing cultural performances and lectures at local schools, to showcase traditional and modern Japanese culture.

People-to-people exchange is also important to us; for many years, the Embassy has been offering MEXT, Japanese government-sponsored scholarships, to Qatari students, providing them with an opportunity to study at Japanese universities, in line with the two countries’ shared goal to increase the number of international students coming to Japan from Qatar. There is likewise collaboration between individual universities that aims to enhance scientific, academic, and research cooperation between the two countries. A prime example of that is the Qatar Chair for Islamic Area Studies at Waseda University, which was established in January 2019 to support the spirit of friendship and partnership between the State of Qatar and Japan.

The embassy has also been organizing the annual Japanese Speech Contest since 2009, with the goal of providing a platform for learners of the Japanese language to demonstrate their skills in a rewarding environment. All in the hope that one day, those language learners will be a bridge between our two countries.

The world cup in Qatar last year was also a huge boost for cultural exchange. The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 provided an excellent opportunity for the Japanese people, to know more not only about Qatar, but also about the Middle East, as a whole. During the FIFA World Cup, an estimated 7,000 Japanese nationals visited Qatar. I believe that the Japanese fans were deeply impressed with the state-of-the-art stadiums and the excellent organization of the tournament, while they basked in Qatari hospitality. I am sure that many Japanese fans left Doha with fond memories of the World Cup and of Qatar. It also helped to promote the Japanese culture in Qatar, as the positive media coverage of the Japanese team and fans cleaning up the locker rooms and stadiums after the matches resonated widely with the Qatari people and residents, and inspired them to learn more about Japan and the Japanese culture.

In April this year, Japan and Qatar signed an agreement for visa waiver for ordinary passport holders of the State of Qatar, which is seen as a significant step that will further improve people-to-people exchanges between the two countries. In addition, as part of Japan’s efforts to boost inbound tourism from the Gulf region to Japan, JNTO (Japan National Tourism Organization) opened its Middle East office in Dubai in 2021; recently, JNTO launched “Japan Travel House” in Qatar, an important initiative in conjunction with Qatar’s hosting of Expo 2023 Doha.

Tourism and people-to-people exchange were also two of the main topics that were strongly stressed during the visit of PM Kishida to Qatar, and at the meeting with HH the Amir, Sheikh Tamim. PM Kishida hailed the new direct flights between Doha and Tokyo, which will be launched by JAL (Japan Airlines) in March 2024, as a significant step forward in increasing exchanges of people between the two countries.

Diversifying Cooperation in Alignment with Qatar’s Diversity

Qatar is definitely the epitome of cultural diversity in the region, with over 100 nationalities living and working together in harmony. It has succeeded in promoting this cultural diversity to be a critical tributary for sustainable development. Culture is also one of the pillars of Qatar’s National Vision 2030, which Japan supports in both the public and private sectors.

This national vision of Qatar—which promotes social, cultural and environmental development, industrial diversification, and human resource development—presents a great opportunity for us to expand our cooperation in those fields. And we will continue to cooperate with Qatar towards its realization. This vision exemplifies HH Sheikh Tamim’s strong leadership and clear vision, and its success is extremely important not only for Qatar, but also for the prosperity and stability of the Middle East region, as a whole.

Furthermore, Qatar is not only an extremely important partner for Japan’s energy security, but also in the international arena, on the political and economic fronts, creating an increasing need for Japan to closely work and coordinate with Qatar on many levels. In addition, Qatar is interested in the possibility of cooperation in promoting investment with Japan.

Qatar, like Japan, employs omni-directional diplomacy as its primary diplomatic strategy. Qatar’s mediation efforts to achieve peaceful solutions to regional and international issues—such as in Afghanistan, Ukraine, and most recently, the ongoing conflict in Gaza—are commendable. Recently, there is growing momentum to promote security cooperation between Japan and Qatar, too.

Economic and Technological Partnerships

In October 2020, Japan announced its goal to achieve a carbon-neutral and decarbonized society by 2050. As the global movement toward the realization of a green society accelerates, we believe that it’s important to expand cooperation with Qatar in the field of clean energy—including energy conservation, hydrogen and ammonia, as well as the practical application and spread of decarbonization technologies; all while utilizing LNG, which is an energy source with a relatively low environmental impact. We took a big step forward in this direction when a Japanese company was selected to participate in the first large-scale solar power generating project in Qatar, as part of the two countries’ cooperation in the field of clean energy.

Qatar has a strong desire to diversify its economies and industries, as well as to realize a decarbonized society. Meanwhile, Japan has the advanced technology to transform Qatar and the Middle East oil-producing countries into global green energy hubs to export decarbonized energy and critical minerals. The combination of these two aspects will make a highly meaningful contribution to world peace and prosperity.

We plan also to deepen our cooperation not just in energy sources, but also in research and development of materials—such as green steel—that do not emit carbon dioxide during the manufacturing process. We would like to see even greater expansion of business opportunities in this field, for both countries, and to explore possible areas of cooperation with Qatar, in the future.