As confidence in free trade appears to be waning mainly due to U.S. foreign policy and Brexit, international business leaders said Friday that stronger cross-border cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent further damage to the principles of globalization.
"Our message is very clear. We need a rules-based, free, fair and open international economical order," said Hiroaki Nakanishi, the head of Keidanren, Japan's biggest business lobby, at the B20 meeting in Tokyo. "We the business communities of G20 countries must stand united and deliver voices to our political leaders."
The B20 is the business version of the Group of 20 summit. The two-day meeting, which began Thursday, was hosted by Keidanren, also known as the Japan Business Federation, ahead of the G20 leaders' summit in June.