Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry Yosuke Takagi has met with officials at the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) on Tuesday to discuss means of promoting economic cooperation and investment between the two countries.

Officials from the UAE and Japan discussed cooperation in the fields of health, energy, education, technology transfer and economic know-how, the ADDED said in a statement.

Trade between Abu Dhabi and Japan reached around AED 9.98 billion ($2.72 billion) in 2016, the ADDED revealed, noting that the value of Abu Dhabi’s imports from the Asian country reached around AED 9.81 billion.

The emirate’s non-oil exports to Japan exceeded AED 50.311 million, while the value of re-exports from Abu Dhabi to Japan amounted to AED 6.573 million, ADDED’s statement showed.

ADDED chairman Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri led the meeting which saw the attendance of ADDED acting undersecretary Khalifa bin Salem Al Mansouri; the CEO of Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development Abdullah Saeed Al Darmaki; the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) CEO Rashid Abdel Kareem Al Baloushi; Senaat CEO Jamal Salem Al Thaheri; and Japan’s ambassador to the UAE Kanji Fujiki.

The meeting further tackled means to develop the Abu Dhabi-Japan Economic Council and its role in bolstering economic ties between the two sides ahead of an upcoming session slated for 19 July 2017 in Tokyo, the statement showed.