Ambassador reveals Japan’s Eurofighter interest
BRITAIN’S ambassador to Japan, David Warren, has revealed that BAE Systems is in the running for a contract to produce a large number of Eurofighter Typhoon jets for the Japanese Government.
Speaking at a networking dinner held in Manchester by accountancy firm Deloitte on Wednesday, Warren said that he was travelling to BAE’s Wharton site yesterday to speak with management and to survey the facility.
Japan is in the process of commissioning new planes for the Japan Air Self-Defence Force, and although competition is likely to be fierce, the visit is seen as a welcome move.
The ambassador has recently embarked on a campaign alongside fashion designer Paul Smith to get more British businesses trading with Japan following the earthquake and subsequent tsunami which destroyed a nuclear power plant at Fukushima in the north east of the country in March this year.
Speaking at the Deloitte dinner, he paid tribute to the “resilience” of the Japanese economy, pointing to recent IMF figures which suggest it will be the fastest-growing of the G7 group of major economies in 2012, with a predicted GDP growth rate of 4.3%.
“In the nuclear industry, British companies have a high degree of experience and can help to find solutions as Japan strives to continue with its clean-up,” he said. “The North West has an important role to play in that.”
The event was also addressed by Minister Hitoshi Noda, Japan’s deputy ambassador to the UK, who thanked the UK government for the role it played in providing emergency staff and supplies in the wake of earthquake and tsunami, which he said had been the country’s “biggest disaster since World War II”.
The incident had devastated an area stretching 500km and left nearly 20,000 people either dead or missing. He added that the economic loss to Japan has also been estimated to be around £130bn.
However, he said that Japan’s new government had pledged to spend £190bn over the next ten years to aid recovery.
The event was the second networking dinner between between UK and Japanese companies set up by Deloitte this year.
The firm’s North West senior partner, Patrick Loftus, said: “With over 90 Japanese businesses in the region, there is a real hunger for this type of event.
“How and with whom we do business has changed dramatically and this networking dinner reflects the emergence of Manchester on the international stage. BAE is just one example of how businesses in the North West benefit from strong ties between the UK and Japan.”
