MHI Establishes Representative Office in Abu Dhabi

This will be MHI's second representative office in the Persian Gulf region, joining the Middle East Office in Dubai. The Abu Dhabi Office will initially be located in Mohammed Bin Zayed City, a free zone, and in the future will move to Masdar City*1, which is now under construction. Kinya Watanabe, General Manager of the Strategic Business Development Office for the UAE at MHI's Machinery & Steel Structures Headquarters, has been appointed representative of the new office. Operations at the new office, which will also have two local employees, will get under way with support from head office staff dispatched from Japan.

MHI established the Strategic Business Development Office for the UAE at its main office in Tokyo in October 2009 in a quest to strengthen its UAE market development activities, especially in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Since taking this move the company has been pursuing increased opportunities to contribute to Abu Dhabi's development and to expand its own business in the region, including projects like the Masdar Initiative, a strategic economic development program with environmental and sustainability priorities that Abu Dhabi is vigorously promoting, and urban infrastructure development projects designed to attract the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA)*2 to Abu Dhabi.

To smoothly and effectively implement the company's initiatives relating to such projects, MHI opted to conduct locally based activities from the early stages. With establishment of its new office, the company will enhance its capability to promptly grasp the local situation and local needs and respond accordingly to customers such as the Abu Dhabi government and public organizations, while also boosting the company's presence in Abu Dhabi.

CCS-EOR involves technologies enabling effective recovery of oil by injecting the oil layer with carbon dioxide (CO2), which is separated and recovered from flue gas emitted from power generation plants and other sources. These technologies are expected to contribute to Abu Dhabi, a country rich in oil resources, significantly. Other products and technologies the company plans to propose to Abu Dhabi include: key next-generation transportation systems such as intelligent transport systems (ITS) and light-rail transit (LRT); infrastructure for next-generation transportation modes such as electric vehicles; and renewable energy power generation systems such as wind power and photovoltaic systems. Going forward MHI will further intensify communication with local customers and promote the development of business opportunities.