Diana Farah

Suntory Holdings CEO Tak Niinami said Wednesday trade is “very important” for Japan and international players, emphasizing the need to maintain trade pacts.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum, Niinami told the audience two trade pacts were crucial for free trade: the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP.)

“Both are so important in promoting high standards, a transparent market and foreign investment,” Niinami said.

The CEO said CPTPP is bringing in more participating countries that are willing to “bring more foreign investment.”

“The country has to, however, comply with the rules of the pact,” Niinami said. “The UK just joined, and now Indonesia is raising a hand as well as other countries.”

When it came to China, which is also interested in CPTPP, he explained that negotiations must be had.

“We should start a negotiation and check if China can comply with the rules,” Niinami said, emphasizing the importance of maintaining fairness in all agreements made.

Also speaking at the Davos panel titled ‘Trade Deals or Disputes,’ DHL Group CEO Tobias Meyer said that a “big part of the world is tired of being told what to do by the West,” which is why trade with China is on the rise.

“What’s growing is the trade with the rest of the world, not with the EU and US,” Meyer said. “it’s important to recognize that that the failure of doing trade deals, particularly under new conditions, has really led to that economic development and that a lot of nations silently side with China in this way, at least according to the figures.”

The panelists included Laurent Saint-Martin French Minister of Foreign Trade and French Nationals Abroad, Senegalese Minister of Industry and Commerce Serigne Gueye Diop and BHP Group CFO Vandita Pant.

The session was moderated by Simon Evenett, geopolitics and strategy professor at the International Institute of Management Development.