Abe attempts to crack Central Asia
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe’s tour of Central Asia brought in a number of energy deals, but experts expect Japan to face challenges in moving from these announcements to commercial reality.
Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov (right) with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. (PA)
The recent visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to Central Asia saw a number of lucrative energy deals signed, but bringing the plans to fruition in this notoriously opaque region will be far from straightforward.
Leading a huge trade delegation to five Central Asian countries in October, Abe signed deals valued at more than $25 billion, including several gas projects. In the first visit to the region by a Japanese leader in nearly a decade, Abe visited Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan. One of the Turkmen projects could include an $8 billion gas processing plant, although no details have been provided.