UAE-Japan to benefit from FTA

Abu Dhabi, June 24, 2008 (WAM) - The UAE needs to offer concessions to Japan to sign a free trade agreement (FTA) and ensure that both countries would benefit from the deal, according to a prominent UAE think-tank centre.

The FTA should focus on bridging the gap in trade between the two sides and encourage Japan to pump more investment into the UAE to enable it to acquire
technology, which is needed for its economic diversification programme, said
the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR) according to
a report in Emirates Business.

In a new book released this week, the Abu Dhabi-based think-tank highlighted
the efforts by the UAE and its partners in the six-nation Gulf Co-operation
Council (GCC) to sign FTAs with the United States and other countries to
attract industrial capital and open up new markets for their petrochemicals
and other products.

The targeted countries include the EU members, as well as the United States,
China, India, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, and Turkey. "The
proposed Japan-UAE FTA is expected to enhance bilateral trade in services in
some sectors more than others. In the case of investment, there are no deep
economic links between the UAE and Japan in terms of foreign direct
investment (FDI). Therefore, promoting joint investment is necessary," ECSSR
said.

"If limited access concessions are bilaterally accorded to the services
sectors, then one might doubt the extent to which the proposed FTA would be
beneficial – except for trade in goods. In this case, Japan would be the one
to gain more from the FTA given the present trade surplus that it has with
the UAE. International experience shows that a FTA between a developed
country (e.g. Japan) and a developing/emerging country (e.g. UAE) usually
results in encouraging more exports from the former to the latter than
vice-versa."
But the study proposed what it called mechanisms to lessen the likely
gap between the expected benefits for both parties, such as duality of the
liberalisation pace and incorporation of revisions or transition clauses. It
said signing a FTA between the UAE and Japan would result in economic
benefits and costs for both parties, as is the case for FTAs in general.

"However, in order to decide whether to proceed with a FTA, gains must
outweigh losses for the involved countries," it said. "In general, the UAE
must give Japan concessions similar to those proposed to other FTA countries
[especially in sectors where Japan possesses a competitive advantage] in
order to create competition and increase economic welfare, which would
result in reaping maximum benefits."

The study did not elaborate on those concessions but Japan has sought more
interests in the UAE's massive oil sector to ensure stable crude supplies in
the long term. Currently Japan has relatively small interests in the UAE
hydrocarbon industry through its Japanese Oil Development Company (Jodco)
and the Abu Dhabi Development Company (Adoc).

Japan is the world's largest market for UAE crude oil, importing more than
one million barrels per day from Abu Dhabi, almost 40 per cent of the
emirate's total crude exports. Japan's Tokyo Electric Power Company is also
the main buyer of liquefied natural gas from Abu Dhabi's Adgas company.

Japan has suffered from a heavy deficit in its overall trade with the UAE
but it enjoys a big surplus if crude oil and gas are excluded. Despite its
strong commercial relationship with the Emirates, Japan's foreign direct
investments in the UAE have remained relatively low, standing at around
US$1.09bn (Dh4bn) at the end of 2006.
In other regional states, Japan's FDIs were estimated at around US$2.038bn
in Saudi Arabia and nearly US$2.187bn in the Neutral Zone, an oil-rich
border strip shared by the Kingdom and Kuwait. Investments stood at US$419m
in Qatar, US$238m in Bahrain and only US$21m in Oman.