French President Emmanuel Macron along with his wife Brigitte, arrived in Japan on Wednesday for bilateral talks after a testing time for the long-standing alliance between Paris and Tokyo following the arrest of former auto tycoon Carlos Ghosn.
Macron, who is visiting Japan for the first time as president, will hold talks with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe before meeting Japan's newly enthroned Emperor Naruhito on Thursday.
Ahead of the trip, the Elysee Palace said Macron would emphasise “France's strong attachment to the alliance”, adding that he hopes to hear support from Japan and Nissan for “the continuation and consolidation of this alliance”. France and Japan have had a long-standing alliance, wherein France also holds 15 per cent stake in Renault.
The Japanese and French leaders will also be looking to co-ordinate on the major international issues that are set to dominate this week's G20.
The US-China trade war is weighing heavily on the global economy and tensions with Iran risk spiralling into a Middle East conflict. And in light of this, both Japan and France, which will chair a G7 meeting in August and back multilateral solutions for the trade crisis.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the meanwhile, will hold about 10 bilateral meetings, including with US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Japan this week, according to sources. He will also hold meetings with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The summit will be a platform to discuss topics such as will include free trade and economic growth, global economy, including taxation, finance, digital economy and artificial intelligence, inclusive and sustainable world, energy and environment, society 5.0, quality infrastructure, global health, aging, climate change, and marine plastic waste, said Former Union minister Suresh Prabhu, who would be India's Sherpa at the meeting of the world's top economies.
