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Executives' Comments  Comment by Chairman Chairman Nakanishi's Comments on the G20 Osaka Summit

29 June 2019
Keidanren (Japan Business Federation)

The G20 Osaka Summit, the first at which Japan has presided, reached a successful conclusion today. Now, more than ever, G20 members need to address downside risks to the global economy such as US-China trade conflict and geopolitical tensions, and contribute to fulfilling a global agenda centred on the SDGs. Against this backdrop, sharing Keidanren's course towards realising Society 5.0 was a significant achievement, as Keidanren has been promoting this concept for some time and it was approved at the B20 Tokyo Summit in March this year. I would like to convey my profound respect for Prime Minister Abe's robust leadership as Summit president and his efforts to reconcile participating countries' varied stages of development and economic regimes in order to find common ground and compile the "G20 Osaka Leaders' Declaration".

Keidanren also welcomes outcomes reached in each policy area, since the B20 Tokyo Summit Joint Recommendations are widely and specifically reflected in the Leaders' Declaration. These include: realising "a free, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, predictable and stable trade and investment environment", and promoting reform of the WTO, Data Free Flow with Trust, a virtuous cycle of environment and growth through innovations, and G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment.

The issues contained in the Leaders' Declaration, including those mentioned above, cannot possibly be solved overnight. It is now essential to capitalise on the political momentum gained at the Summit to hold further in-depth discussions at the G7 Biarritz Summit in August, and link outcomes to tangible actions and achievements, for example by taking stock of progress in the G7/G20 Summits next year.

Keidanren shall participate in the B7 Summit which will be held in Aix-en-Provence, France next week to discuss issues in further depth, and cooperate in convening the B20 Summit in Saudi Arabia next year as current holder of the B20 presidency.

Executives' Comments