As the US-Iran war continues to limit maritime movement across the Strait of Hormuz, choking energy supplies to countries that have historically sourced much of their oil and gas from the Middle East, Japan says it may turn to Trinidad and Tobago to fill the void.
During a one-day visit to this country on Friday, Japan’s Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi met with Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs Sean Sobers to discuss potentially sourcing oil and natural gas from Trinidad and Tobago, as well as collaboration as the country assumes a non-permanent seat on the United Nations’ Security Council. The meeting was described by Japanese officials as a “good occasion to align understandings and perspectives” against the backdrop of the international community.
DIVERSIFYING SOURCES: Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi, left, and Minister
of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers on Friday. —Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Motegi, who has been serving under Japan’s first woman Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi since she assumed the role last October, made his first visit to this country after a fleet of similar meetings across Panama, Mexico and Ecuador in the past few days, according to Japanese officials.
Just hours after meeting with Sobers as part of an effort to strengthen collaboration and cooperation with the Caribbean and Latin America, Motegi left for Tokyo.
He is only the second of two Japanese foreign affairs ministers to have visited T&T.
At a news briefing at the Hilton Trinidad and Conference Centre, St Ann’s, on Friday evening, Director General for Press and Public Diplomacy of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs Toshihiro Kitamura said discussions between Sobers and Motegi involved T&T’s abundance of crude oil and natural gas, and the establishment of a supply chain between the country and the Asian economic giant.
“Japan, more than 90% of its crude oil consumption comes from the Middle East. So, at this time, because of the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, our imports from the Middle East have been badly, negatively affected. So, we’d like to diversify our sources of origin from other parts of the world,” he said.
According to Kitamura, this region, including T&T, is the potential candidate for the diversification of energy. “So, the ministers have reaffirmed our commitment to further explore the cooperation, in many areas, including the energy sectors.
“Today, we have no tangible or complete outcome to be announced to the public—but based on the discussions that they had, we are going to follow up that discussion between the two foreign ministers,” he explained.
Japanese
investment
Kitamura said several Japanese companies had shown interest in investing in the country, a particular area of interest being water resource management.
He referenced a 2024 agreement between the Toshiba Group and T&T, to construct five water treatment facilities under the National Water Sector Transformation Programme. A Toshiba release stated that it covers the facilities with a 66,000-cubic-metres-per-day capacity.
According to the company, the scope of work covers the construction of a new treatment plant, the upgrade of one plant, and the refurbishment and rehabilitation of three plants.
Kitamura also referenced the ownership stake of Marubeni at the Power Generation Company of Trinidad and Tobago and investments by the Mitsubishi Corporation into the Caribbean Gas Chemical Ltd. Petroleum by-products such as methanol and dimethyl, he said, are already being exported to Japan from Trinidad from as far back as 2020. He noted one reason for Motegi’s visit to Panama was to ensure passage to export products from T&T.
“Mr Motegi visited Panama because of the importance of the Panama Canal; in order to export from here, we have to go through the canal,” he said.
Disaster
resilience
Kitamura noted similarities between T&T and Japan, stating that support for local disaster resilience was also discussed during the Foreign Minister’s visit.
Japan, widely considered disaster-prone, has in the past been subjected to powerful and devastating earthquakes, tsunamis, heatwaves and other natural phenomena, prompting the establishment of robust national monitoring systems to mitigate harm. Kitamura said Japan remains happy to share its expertise, technology and knowledge with the country.
“Trinidad and Tobago and Japan are both island nations. So we both suffer from natural disasters…one example of our assistance was providing assistance of US$2.1 million to the Caricom secretariat. Sargassum was a big issue and in 2022 we provided the equipment to collect it. We also provided capacity building to monitor the maritime domain,” he said.
Strengthen
security
As Trinidad and Tobago ramps up its “crime fighting” efforts, Kitamura was asked if Japan intended to aid the Government with its national security. He noted some restrictions and regulations, but said Japan remained ready to do so.
He said Japan had a track record of supporting countries in dealing with issues such as drugs and crime through international organisations such as the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime.
“It’s not impossible to support Trinidad and Tobago—for example, through the UNODC. Providing police patrol vehicles could be possible as we already have a record of helping Ecuador, for example, where we have provided patrol vessels for anti-IUU fishing (illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing). So, we have provided powerful vessels to the government.
“According to the Ecuadorian government, some vessels came off the coast of Galapagos Islands and caught sharks and made shark fin soup.
“They wanted to increase their capacity of monitoring, so we supported the Ecuadorian government with their patrols. We provided capacity building for the personnel, for example. We provided equipment for maritime domain awareness,” he said.
Officials, however, said they were not aware of any official requests for aid in this regard from T&T. However, it was noted the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) at times invites countries to participate in its capacity building and training initiatives to address maritime and cybersecurity risks.