Shinzo Abe begins five-nation tour of Latin America

Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has begun a five-nation tour across Latin America in a bid to raise support for cooperation in oil and gas operations.

Prime Minister Abe will visit Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago, Colombia, Chile and Brazil. According to The Japan Times, Abe was able to secure a stable supply of oil and gas from Mexico.

Fossil fuels, particularly LNG, have become increasingly important to Japan in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, which has seen electricity generation suspended at nearly all of the country’s nuclear reactors.

The visit is the first to the region by a Japanese Prime Minister since Junichiro Koizumi’s 2004 trip to Brazil and Mexico. Abe was quoted as saying, “I want to promote Japan and bring it closer to the countries of this region, whose potential is unlimited.”

Edited from various sources by David Bizley

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