During the last day of her official tour of Asia, Foreign Minister Diana Mondino continued her extensive agenda in Tokyo and held meetings with Japanese government authorities and businessmen.
At an event organized by the Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI), Minister Mondino described to a business audience the perspectives of the reforms being implemented by the Argentine Government to improve the macroeconomic situation, generate a beneficial business climate and promote the arrival of new investments. During the meeting with the General Director of the Japanese chapter of the Argentina-Japan Business Cooperation Committee, Kazuo Nishitani, and with the Chairman of the Argentine chapter, Ángel Machado, Minister Mondino invited Japanese companies to settle in the country and thus take advantage of important bilateral complementarities.
In that regard, she referred to the existing opportunities in energy projects, both in oil and gas; in renewable energies, a sector in which Argentina presents excellent natural conditions for their generation; and in the development of the economy of hydrogen and its derivatives. In addition, she mentioned the great interest in investments in the mining sector, mainly in minerals linked to the energy transition, copper and lithium.
On the sidelines of the event at the JCCI, Minister Mondino met with the CEO of the Japan Overseas Infrastructure Investment Corporation (JOIN), who presented his project portfolio. JOIN is an investment fund combining public and private capital with the aim to encourage Japanese companies to develop businesses and investments overseas in the areas of infrastructure and urban development, through the use of Japanese capital, technology, experience and know-how.
Previously, Mondino had held a meeting with Toyota's General Manager for America and the Caribbean, Hidemoto Asakura, together with Toyota Argentina suppliers: Denso, Bridgestone, Yazaki, J-Tekt Pilkington (Nippon Glass), Toyota Tsusho, Toyota Boshoku, Vuteq, Yusen Logistics, NYK.
Minister Mondino praised the Japanese companies with a prominent role in the automotive industry in Argentina, where they produce to supply the local market and also export to a very significant number of countries throughout America.
Today, Toyota is reinventing its business as a mobility company, focusing even more on new technological fields such as connectivity, automation and electrification. In our country, its plant is located in Zárate, province of Buenos Aires, where the Hilux and SW4 models are produced and exported to most Latin American countries.
During the afternoon, Minister Mondino was received by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Masahito Moriyama, with whom she advanced the agenda related to bilateral cooperation on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and space matters. Both officials considered that there are different opportunities between Argentina and Japan that should be explored, for example, in nuclear medicine, radioisotope production and in the participation of companies in the Argentine nuclear sector in the main projects underway in Japan.
Argentina is interested in generating actions to promote Argentine science in Japan, with emphasis on its dynamism and export potential. Furthermore, in educational matters, working together to generate training opportunities for Argentine students and artists in Japan should be similarly promoted.
Also on Mondino’s agenda was the meeting with the Vice President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Katsura Miyazaki. The Argentine Foreign Minister conveyed her gratitude for the traditional Japanese cooperation and expressed the commitment to continue strengthening it through the implementation and development of the PREVENIR-SATREPS, “KAIZEN TANGO” and “OVOP - One Village, One Product” projects.
The Minister was also present at the signing of a Representation Agreement between INVAP and Chiyoda Technol Corporation, under which collaborative strategies and actions are defined to allow INVAP to participate in new experimental reactor projects in Japan and other projects in the Japanese nuclear sector.
Finally, the Minister met with the President of the Min-On Concert Association in order to identify projects to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the first presentation of an Argentine típica orchestra in Japan. She also expressed her gratitude to the association for its work in promoting the dissemination of tango in Japan since 1970. It should be noted that Min-On carries out its “Tango Series” every year, with an Argentine musical group -different each year- performing on different stages throughout Japan.
The Secretary for International Economic Relations, Marcelo Cima, and Argentina’s Ambassador to Japan, Eduardo Tempone, accompanied the Foreign Minister during her activities in Tokyo.
