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Japanese businesses in US are hostages of anti-Russian sanctions — JBIC

If you do business with sanctioned Russian companies in the United States, it may be a reason for imposing sanctions on Japanese businesses

VLADIVOSTOK, September 3. /TASS/. Japanese businesses operating in the United States have become "hostages" of US sanctions against Russia, Tadashi Maeda, senior managing director of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), told TASS on the sidelines of the first Eastern Economic Forum.

"The newly-emerged threat is the negative effect of sanctions, in particular, those by the United States," he said. "We are unable to use the dollar in granting credit lines. We can use only the yen, and this entails technical problems," he said.

Maeda acknowledged the existence of certain political disagreements, but at the same time remarked they had no effects on the business community.

"The economy and politics are different things. The US sanctions are the worst obstruction," he added.

"Many Japanese banks maintain extensive business operations in the United States. In the context of sanctions (against Russia) Washington can impose restrictions on any transactions by these banks," Maeda explained.

"For instance, the sanction list includes Rosneft. If you do business with Rosneft in the United States, this may be a reason for sanctions on Japanese businesses," he said. "One can say that Japanese companies in the United States are ‘hostages’ of US sanctions," Maeda said.

The first Eastern Economic Forum opened in Vladivostok on Thursday. It will last till September 5. Regional investment opportunities and regional projects will be presented.

According to the Far East development minister, the overall value of contacts and agreements drafted for the Eastern Economic Forum stands at 4.7 trillion roubles. The initiators of the 90 most attractive projects requiring a total investment of 1.5 trillion present their business ideas to participants personally.