Japan sees increased business opportunities with ASEAN under TPP

Japan expects business opportunities in Malaysia and the regional markets to increase across all sectors under the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), including agriculture, forestry and fishery products.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Japan was currently moving ahead to liberalise more sectors, while continuing to make that for agriculture, more proactive.

"The TPP is not just about reduction and elimination of tariffs, but also promoting liberalisation of services and investments in a broad range of areas," he told reporters on the final day of the 27th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits here on Sunday.

He said Japan was close to signing the TPP trade-pact and expressed hope that the other 11 participating countries would push forward to seal the deal.

On the ASEAN-Japan relationship, Abe said the economic interdependence between both parties was steadily deepening, and Japan was stepping up efforts to open up its market.

At the ASEAN-Japan Summit held earlier, he shared Japan's new measures to expand the "Partnership for Quality Infrastructure" by accelerating its Official Development Assistance (ODA) loan scheme.

Abe's spokesperson said Japan would reduce the processing period for loans for government-related projects to one and a half-years at most for important projects from the current three.

It will also introduce loan schemes with a currency conversion option for countries whose gross national income (GNI) per capital is equal to or higher than upper-middle-income countries, headed.

He said the Japanese government would also establish a dollar-denominated loan scheme for loans provided through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

The spokesperson said a trust fund under the JICA would be set up by end-March 2016, to be invested in and finance private quality infrastructure projects.

In partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the JICA Trust Fund will invest and finance up to US$1.5 billion (US$1.00 = RM4.28) in the next five years.

Both parties also aim to co-finance US$10 billion in the next five years for sovereign projects.

Japan will collaborate among others with the ADB, the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and the African Development Bank in providing infrastructure investments.

The spokesperson said a microfinance fund for women called the Japan-ASEAN Women Empowerment Fund was established to drive women's social advancement, poverty reduction, fostering growth, job creation and entrepreneurship.

The fund through microfinance institutes will provide business finance for sole proprietorship, business group and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through investments or loans.