On March 10, 2016, the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and Global Energy Center brought together Japanese scholars and practitioners alongside US analysts to discuss Japanese energy priorities and policies in the Middle East. These experts discussed how the Middle Eastern landscape impacts Japan’s energy policies, and how Japanese policies in turn impact the region.

Founding Director and Chairman of the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center Ambassador Richard L. Morningstar welcomed the panel, and the Embassy of Japan’s Minister of Political Affairs Mr. Masataka Okano provided opening remarks. Hariri Center Senior Fellow Ambassador Frederic C. Hof moderated the panel with: Dr. Ken Koyama, Managing Director and Chief Economist, The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan; Dr. Sara Vakhshouri, Nonresident Senior Fellow, Global Energy Center, Atlantic Council; Dr. Yasuyuki Matsunaga, Professor of Political Science, Graduate Program in Peace and Conflict Studies, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies; and Dr. Kota Suechika, Visiting Scholar, School of Asian and African Studies, London Middle East Institute.