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Japan Tells Geithner It Will Reduce Iranian Crude Imports

Japan Tells Geithner It Will Reduce Iranian Crude Imports
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Πεμ, 12 Ιανουαρίου 2012 - 18:45
Japan's finance minister told visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Thursday that his country will take steps to reduce its dependency on oil imports from Iran, taking a much more conciliatory approach to the matter than China did a few days ago.
Japan 's finance minister told visiting U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Thursday that his country will take steps to reduce its dependency on oil imports from Iran , taking a much more conciliatory approach to the matter than China did a few days ago.

"We want to take actions to further reduce our 10% dependency as soon as possible in a planned manner," Jun Azumi said. Japanese crude imports from Iran came to around 10% of its total crude imports in 2010. He said that Japan has reduced its oil imports from Iran by 40% over the past five years.

On the second leg of his Asian trip, Geithner said that the U.S. appreciates Japan 's cooperation in dealing with Iran as the U.S. explores ways to cut off Iran 's central bank from the global financial system.

"We very much appreciate the support Japan has provided in standing with us and the international community," Geithner said at a joint press conference, regarding the U.S. objective to pressure Iran over its suspected nuclear weapons program. He said that the U.S. was working closely with Europe , Japan and other countries to pressure Iran .

Geithner later said that Washington will send a team to Japan next week to discuss the Iran sanctions.

"We have a range of operational questions we're starting to work through with them. We're going to send a team here next week to consult in more detail on the technical questions," Geithner said in an interview with NHK.

Concerns over U.S. legislation that would punish global banks that deal with the Iranian central bank have grown among Iranian oil importers such as China , Japan and South Korea .

During his trip to China earlier this week, Geithner urged officials to greatly reduce imports of Iranian crude oil, and explained to them a new U.S. sanctions policy against countries that don't curtail their purchases.

But it is far from clear whether the Chinese will go along with the sanctions regime. Faced with U.S. initiatives, Chinese officials customarily take months before making their decision clear. In public, Chinese officials have forcefully opposed unilateral U.S. sanctions on Iran .

The Geithner-Azumi talks come as Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba wrapped up a tour of the Middle East where he asked major oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates , to increase oil production. JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corp., Japan's largest refiner by capacity, said Tuesday that it has been in talks with Saudi Arabia and a few other oil producers about possible purchases in case of a ban on Iranian crude.

Azumi and Geithner also took a swipe at China , urging Beijing to let is currency appreciate further.

Azumi said Japan will continue to call on China to make its currency regime more flexible to better reflect its economic fundamentals, while Geithner later said in the NHK interview that currencies of major emerging economies -- often interpreted to include China -- needed to appreciate further.

"You want to see those currencies continue to reflect the substantial upward pressure you're seeing in fundamental economic forces that are going to push them gradually to appreciate and strengthen against the dollar, the yen and the euro. It's going to have to continue on a sustained basis," he said.

The two also discussed broader global financial issues, including the ongoing crisis in Europe .

"We agreed that Europe itself, as its first step, should strengthen its crisis firewalls to give a sense of stability to the market," Azumi said.

Geithner also emphasized the importance for Europe of making its financial backstop strong and credible to markets and praised the role played by the International Monetary Fund in the region's strategy.

"We are fully prepared to support a more substantial role by the IMF in the context of supporting, supplementing a stronger European response," he said. Geithner also said that Europe 's leaders "appear to be making some progress in containing" their crisis.
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