UAE-Japan Forum in Tokyo Proposes Joint Industrial Project Within 12 Months

TRENDS Global, part of the Abu Dhabi-based TRENDS Group, organised the forum under the theme From a Historic Energy Partnership to a Shared Future. It is named after Das Island, from which the first shipment of Abu Dhabi crude oil left for Japan in 1962.

WAM said the industrial proposal centres on critical supply chains. It would set up a UAE-based project to make strategic components, which participants presented as a practical way to turn bilateral agreements into investment. Speakers also called for joint projects in third-country markets in Asia and Africa, combining Japanese industrial and technology expertise with Emirati capital and logistics.

The trade and investment session looked at opportunities in AI, advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, clean energy and digital infrastructure under the UAE-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Negotiations on that agreement concluded in March 2026. Speakers included Sogano Masafumi, director of the Middle East and Africa division at Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. Former Japanese foreign minister Yoshimasa Hayashi moderated the foreign policy session.

In a recorded address, TRENDS Group chairman Dr Mohammed Abdullah Al Ali said the economic partnership agreement was an important opportunity to expand trade, investment and private-sector cooperation, including in AI and the digital economy.

A third session on water security proposed a joint UAE-Japan initiative on climate-resilient water, to be announced in Abu Dhabi ahead of the city's hosting of the 2026 United Nations Water Conference. The proposal covers early-warning systems and cleaner desalination technologies. Speakers said energy built the first 60 years of the relationship and that water could shape the next 60.

The proposals came from a think-tank forum and are not government commitments. WAM did not name any companies attached to the planned industrial project. Still, they show which sectors the two countries want to prioritise once the partnership agreement takes effect: AI, manufacturing and critical supply chains.