Hollande Arrives on Three-Day Visit to Japan
Francois Hollande arrived in Japan Thursday for three days of talks, hoping to seal deals on nuclear co-operation and in the aviation sector, on the first state visit by a French president in 17 years.
Hollande, along with key ministers and a large business delegation, arrives keen to learn more about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's bid to inflate Japan's flaccid economy.
His visit also comes just weeks after he went to China and as Japan grows increasingly uneasy over moves by Paris to build closer ties with Beijing.
The spotlight has fallen on Japan since Abe swept to power in December elections on a pledge to turn around two decades of economic stagnation with policies dubbed "Abenomics".
Massive government spending and the Bank of Japan's huge release of easy money have lit a fire under the Tokyo stock market and sent the once-sky-high yen into a tailspin, helping the nation's key export sector.
While the Nikkei has dropped off its recent five-year high, there is a growing sense of optimism over Japan's economy, which grew 0.9 percent in the first quarter. The International Monetary Fund expects it to expand 1.6 percent this year.
Those figures stand in stark contrast to France, which like most of recession-hit Europe is struggling with a slowing economy and high unemployment.
"The Abe government has put in place an extremely daring policy that is showing a certain amount of results," a French presidential aide said ahead of the trip. "So of course, Francois Hollande will question him on this policy."
Hollande is accompanied by six ministers, including Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius and Industrial Renewal Minister Arnaud Montebourg, as well as some 40 chief executives including the head of French nuclear giant Areva.
The two countries are expected to sign agreements in the atomic sector, with the pro-nuclear Abe saying he will order the re-start of more of Japan's idled nuclear reactors once their safety is assured, despite public unease in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster two years ago.
Before the catastrophe, Japan used to generate around 30 percent of its electricity from nuclear power but now only has two atomic plants up and running, accounting for just a fraction of the nation's energy mix.
France, by comparison, relies on nuclear power to meet around 75 percent of its energy needs, according to the U.S.-based Nuclear Energy Institute.
Officials will sign a partnership agreement between the French government-funded organisation CEA, which does research in the nuclear field, and the NRA, Japan's atomic watchdog.
The visit is also expected to touch on the aviation sector in Japan, where European plane maker Airbus has lagged behind U.S. rival Boeing.
Japan's All Nippon Airways (ANA), one of the largest customers for Boeing's troubled Dreamliner, which suffered a series of safety mishaps, said on Monday it was considering Airbus's A350 as it looks to replace its Boeing 777 fleet.
Tokyo may be looking for reassurances after French naval defense firm DCNS's sale of helicopter landing equipment to China, at a time when the two Asian neighbors remain locked in a territorial stand-off over an East China Sea island chain.
The equipment could make it easier for Chinese helicopters to land on patrol vessels that Beijing regularly sends into the disputed area.
Source: Agence France Presse
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