Vantage Point: Brave Leadership Needed On TPP

TOKYO (Nikkei)--"Opening up this country to the rest of the world is the single most important task for Japan's survival in the international community," argues Shoei Utsuda, chairman of the Japan Foreign Trade Council and of trading house Mitsui & Co.

"The government ought to have the courage to press the public for a decision" on joining negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, Utsuda said Wednesday.

While the new government is taking a very visible stance on coping with the strong yen, the debate on the TPP has stalled, he said.

A little more than six months on from the March 11 disaster, the country's supply chains have largely been mended. Looking at the recovery so far, "I felt once again Japan's hidden strength," he said.

But with the economic outlook growing uncertain, the nation's future hangs on the TPP negotiations. Not only to help farmers but to pave the way to joining the talks soon, "We need to restart efforts to strengthen our agricultural base," he said.

September 22, 2011

Source: The Nikkei