METI Seeks 24.1% More Budget for Mineral, Energy Resource for F2009

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry announced on Wednesday it seeks 13.733 billion yen of budget for mineral and energy for fiscal 2009 starting April 2009, which is 24.1% higher than fiscal 2008 to secure mineral resources and to develop ocean resource development. The budget doubles to more than 40 billion yen including 27.1 billion yen of additional investment in Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC). METI tries to expand the budget to improve the mineral resource securing when world mineral majors increase the control of the metal resources. METI also tries to secure technical development for rare metals and rare earth. The natural resources and fuel department of Agency of Natural Resources and Energy, which is part of METI, seeks 10.473 billion yen of budget for stable securing of the resources and 3.26 billion yen for ocean resource development for fiscal 2009, which is 28.7% and 11.4% higher than fiscal 2008. The unit tries to secure 7.177 billion yen for exploration, which is 10.6% higher than previous year. METI tries to secure 60 million yen of budget for infrastructure development in resource rich countries in fiscal 2009. METI supports additional resource interests gain for Japanese companies through Official Development Assistance and technical partnership.