TOKYO: Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan has reiterated Russia’s position as an integral part of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, known as OPEC+, and added that without the alliance it would be impossible to properly ensure adequate oil supplies to the market.
Speaking at an Arab News Japan Roundtable event on July 19 in Tokyo, which took place at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo where Arab News Japan first launched two and a half years ago, he said: “We are focused on maintaining stability in the oil markets through OPEC+ and the dialogue within OPEC+ is quite robust and is responding as needed to the requirements of the oil markets.
“We don’t see a lack of oil in the market, there is a lack of refining capacity.”
Prince Faisal began his talk by mourning the former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
“Former PM Abe's untimely death was an extreme tragedy and was very much felt in the Kingdom," stated the Foreign Minister, adding: "Shinzo Abe was perceived by us as a real statesman of the highest caliber who had a tremendous impact on the global stage, but also on the relationship, we saw him as very much a friend of the Kingdom and someone who was instrumental in strengthening the relationship between our two countries.
"We were very sad and shocked by his murder and I communicated our leadership's condolences to the Prime Minister this morning and to the Foreign Minister."
He then went on to talk about the strengthening Saudi-Japanese relationship, despite the two year gap which came as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The global pandemic had impacted some of our partnership somewhat, one of the reasons I am here is to make sure that the momentum that we had before we came into the pandemic in the relationship with Japan can be maintained and we have been working, even before this visit with our colleagues in the Japanese government, to make sure that all of those agenda items we have been working on for the past many years continue and no we are focused on the future,” said Prince Faisal.
The minister also revealed parts of what went on during the recent visit of US President Joe Biden to Jeddah, and reiterated the Kingdom’s commitment to stablizing energy markets.
The discussion was moderated by Arab News Japan’s Regional Head Ali Itani and was open to a Q&A by leading Japanese media outlets such as NHK, Jiji Press, Kyodo News, Asahi Shimbun and Nikkei Shimbun.
The roundtable took place in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Japan Nayef Al-Fahadi as well as the Ambassador of Japan to Saudi Arabia Fumio Iwai.
