Saudi Arabia and Japan issued a joint statement today, Monday, regarding the “Manar Initiative for Cooperation in Clean Energy” between the two countries. A bilateral meeting was held in Jeddah between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, and Fumio Kishida, the Prime Minister of Japan, during which they decided to launch the Saudi-Japanese “Manar” Initiative.
Driven by the ambitions of both nations in clean energy and their quest for carbon neutrality, the parties decided to establish the “Manar” Initiative for Cooperation in Clean Energy, which will serve as a beacon for other countries and regions in the world seeking to develop their strategies and plans to achieve their carbon neutrality ambitions.
Saudi Arabia aspires to reduce carbon emissions and reach carbon neutrality, benefitting from being the world’s least expensive producer of renewable energy and clean hydrogen, and from its strategic location on energy product export routes, according to the Saudi Press Agency “SPA”.
Japan, a global leader in clean energy technology solutions, also harbors ambitions to reduce carbon emissions and achieve carbon neutrality.
The “Manar” Initiative aims to highlight the leadership of Saudi Arabia and Japan in clean energy projects and sustainable advanced materials, in addition to ensuring the resilience of supply chains for the sustainability and security of supplies. This initiative will enhance the ongoing efforts of Saudi Arabia to become a hub for clean energy, mineral wealth, and energy component supply chains.
The initiative includes the production of several sustainable materials, and will facilitate the participation of leading companies from Saudi Arabia and Japan, expanding their ongoing cooperation, which will result in the production of many components in the energy supply chain that will enable the development of Manar energy initiative projects, such as renewable energy components.
Under this initiative, several projects will be developed that will drive the shift towards clean energy, focusing on areas such as hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic fuels, carbon circular economy/recycling, direct air carbon capture (DAC), critical minerals needed to ensure the resilience of the energy sector and supply chains, development of sustainable materials, and knowledge and research exchange.
To enable the Manar Initiative, both countries confirmed their cooperation in enhancing clean energy and mineral wealth supply chains, by combining capabilities, shared ambitions, and enhancing cooperation between companies and entities in both countries to contribute to the expansion of the clean energy market to reduce costs and increase the resilience of supply chains.
Both nations will jointly work on developing the initiative’s action plan, identifying a detailed list of additional participants, and communicating with global and regional partners to join the initiative.
