The Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, arrived on Monday in New York. (Image via Japan Today)

Abe arrived in New York for UNGA, Japan-US deal, and of course, Iran

Alfonsus Adi Putra
Politics & Economic
News Flash Japan
Sep 24, 2019
1969
On Monday, the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, arrived in the United States (US) to attend the 74th United Nations (UN) General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN Headquarters in New York. Since his reelection in 2012, this would be the seventh time for Abe to attend the event.

The PM was scheduled to give a speech on Tuesday (24/9) about global issues. Bringing the fresh Minister of Environment, Shinjiro Koizumi, the third youngest minister in the Diet would attend the UN climate change meeting.

While attending the event, Abe had two agendas prepared for Japan: the trade deal with the US, and the message to alleviate tension in the Gulf region with Iran.

On Wednesday (25/9), Abe was set to meet the President of the US, Donald Trump, to sign the trade agreement between Japan and the US. Trump stated that the deal would certainly appease the US farmers who were afraid of beef and pork import tariff.

On Japan’s side, the Japanese would want to ensure that the US would not slap any tariff on automotive export to the US as their most promising market.

Reportedly the deal between the US and Japan would be negotiated to its detail between the Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Toshimitsu Motegi, and US Trade Representative, Robert Lighthizer.

Doing his duty for the first time, Motegi would stay until Friday to meet his US counterpart and US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo. Not only the US but also Motegi was expected to meet his South Korean (S. Korea) counterpart, Kang Kyung Wha, on Thursday (26/9), to talk about Japan – S. Korea bilateral relations amid the current frictions due to wartime history.

Meeting Trump, Abe is expected to send the message of peace for the US President. Due to the Saudi Aramco incident, the US – Iran conflict had gradually worsened. On Friday (20/9) last week, the US considered deploying troops to Saudi Arabia and imposing a “high-level” economic sanctions on Iran.

However, before meeting Trump, Abe was set to meet with the President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, on Tuesday. Abe visited Tehran last June to mediate the conditions between the two conflicting countries, representing Japan to Iran for the first time in four decades.

Resounding the same message, Abe would like to ask Rouhani to abide by the 2015 JCPOA agreement, from which the US withdrew in 2017.

After the UNGA, Abe would fly to Belgium on Friday (27/9) to give a speech in the Asia – Europe relations and return to Japan the day after.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/politics/Abe-arrives-in-New-York-with-Japan-U.S.-trade-deal-Iran-in-focus

Politics , International , United-Nations , UNGA , Japan , Shinzo-Abe , Toshimitsu-Motegi , Shinjiro-Koizumi , USA , Donald-Trump , Mike-Pompeo , Iran , Hassan-Rouhani