FOIP ”Free and Open Indo-Pacific”

Toward "Economic Prosperity" in the Indo-Pacific Region: Supporting Business Activities

Policy tools that can be used for commercial projects

This page shows supporting measures that METI, other ministries, and other government agencies provide to support commercial projects according to their phase and purpose.

• About the policy tools for support

Overview of FOIP

FOIP is a vision to develop a free and open Indo-Pacific region as "international public goods" through ensuring the rule-based international order attaching importance to ASEAN's centrality and unity, in order to bring stability and prosperity for every country as well as secure peace and prosperity in the region as a whole. In his keynote speech at the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI) in August 2016, then Prime Minister Abe said, "Japan bears the responsibility of fostering the confluence of the Pacific and Indian Oceans and of Asia and Africa into a place that values freedom, the rule of law, and the market economy, free from force or coercion, and making it prosperous.”

The following are the three pillars of FOIP.

METI is contributing to the promotion of FOIP mainly from the perspective of "(2) Pursuit of Economic Prosperity" by providing support for international rule-making in the field of trade and individual projects that contribute to improving connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region.

Rulemaking

Comprehensive rule-making through EPA/CPTPP/RCEP and other economic partnership agreements and the WTO

• (Reference) EPA/FTA/IIA

METI's main focus areas

Resources and Energy

The promotion of an open and competitive energy market in the Indo-Pacific region and the realization of universal access to affordable and reliable energy are important for Japan's energy policy. To this end, under the Japan-U.S. Strategic Energy Partnership (JUSEP), which was agreed to at the Japan-U.S. Summit in November 2017, METI, the U.S. Department of State, and other Japanese and U.S. government agencies, including Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), and the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) work together to promote private investment in energy infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific region.

At the Japan-U.S. Summit in April 2021, JUSEP was expanded to "Japan-U.S. Clean Energy Partnership (JUCEP)" in order to support third countries, especially Indo-Pacific countries, in accelerating a realistic path of transition to decarbonization while promoting stable energy supply and sustainable growth by utilizing clean, affordable and safe energy technologies. On 11^th June 2021, the first JUCEP plenary meeting was held. Through JUCEP, Japanese and U.S. government agencies will collaborate and complement each other's policy supporting tools, such as capacity building and financial assistance, to effectively boost private investment by Japanese and U.S. companies in the Indo-Pacific region and sub-Saharan Africa.

• Joint Statement on Japan-United states Strategic Energy Partnership (JUSEP) (Agency for Natural Resources and Energy)
• Joint Statement on the Launch of the Japan-United States Clean Energy Partnership (Agency for Natural Resources and Energy)

Digital

In the digital sector, there is a need to create an open and reliable digital economic environment. To this end, through the U.S.-Japan Global Digital Connectivity Partnership (GDCP), which was agreed to be launched in the outcome document of the Japan-U.S. summit meeting in April 2021, ministries and government agencies from Japan and the United States have been discussing economic cooperation between Japan and the United States in digital areas such as smart cities and cybersecurity.
In the dramatic increase of cross-border flow of data, Japan promotes discussions at the WTO e-commerce negotiations and other fora to formulate international rules of date flow based on the concept of "Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT)," which was endorsed by many countries at the G20 Osaka Summit, facilitates free flow of data ensuring  consumer and business trust.

Infrastructure

In the infrastructure sector, the gap between infrastructure supply and demand in developing countries by 2040 is estimated to be about US$15 trillion. In order to fill this infrastructure supply-demand gap and bring benefits to the host country over a long period of time, it is necessary to make "quality" infrastructure investments that take into account the perspectives of openness, transparency, economic efficiency and debt sustainability. METI works to promote the concept of "Quality Infrastructure" as an international standard. Specifically, the "Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Guidelines for Quality Electricity Infrastructure" and the "APEC Guidelines for Quality Water Infrastructure" were formulated in October 2016 and November 2018, respectively. In addition, the “APEC Guidebook on Quality of Infrastructure Development and Investment”, which was formulated in 2014, was revised in 2018. With this revision, the important elements of infrastructure development and investment, such as "transparency," "openness," "economic efficiency," and "financial soundness of target countries," were compiled for the first time in APEC. In June 2019, the G20 Principles on Quality Infrastructure Investment were approved at the G20 Osaka Summit chaired by Japan. In June 2019, the G20 Principles on Quality Infrastructure Investment were approved at the G20 Osaka Summit chaired by Japan.

Related Links

• Free and Open Indo-Pacific (MOFA)

Inquiries

• Trade Policy Planning Office , Trade Policy Bureau, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry

Phone: +81-(0)3-3501-1567