The Tokyo Commodity Exchange, Inc. (TOCOM), Asia’s leading commodity derivatives exchange listing industrial and agricultural products, and DME, the premier international energy futures and commodities exchange in the Middle East, today announced that they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to strengthen their cooperation in promoting the development of energy contracts and in particular crude oil which is listed on both exchanges.

TOCOM and DME will explore several areas of cooperation ranging from joint marketing activities, offering new services to facilitate trading for participants in both markets, in addition to working together to enhance their respective role as marketplaces providing key benchmarks for Asian crude, with the objective of boosting trading activities in both markets.

Tadashi Ezaki, President and CEO of TOCOM, said: "I am delighted to sign this MoU which signifies our efforts in strengthening cooperation with the DME. TOCOM plans to offer a comprehensive slate of energy products, including LNG and electricity, and is preparing for the launch of energy-related OTC trading/clearing services. In this context, I firmly believe that our collaboration with DME will play an important role as we commit ourselves to better serve the needs of the energy community by offering a vibrant, liquid market with ease of access to participants all over the world."

On this occasion, Christopher Fix, Chief Executive Officer of DME said: "The MoU with TOCOM is a major development in our strategic initiative to build closer relationships with Asian customers and to support the development of energy trading benchmarks within Asia. With the Asian market driving the bulk of global oil consumption, I believe this MoU will facilitate development on both sides and will allow us to work together on areas of mutual interests to strengthen market efficiency and capitalize on long term growth opportunities while taking into account the risk management needs of users."

For more information, please contact:

Mayssam Hamadeh - Head of Corporate Communications [email protected] or +971 506523754

Walid Majzoub - TRACCS (PR agency) on [email protected] or +9714 3672530