Ongoing talks between economy ministers from Japan and France are held in order to steady the Renault-Nissan Alliance and resolve their ongoing dispute, Bloomberg reports.
A joint statement issued by the two governments earlier this week confirmed that the economy and trade minister of Japan, Hiroshige Seko, and the French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, reaffirmed their support for the alliance over a phone call.
“The two ministers reaffirmed their strong support for the Nissan-Renault alliance and discussed the two companies’ discussions to strengthen the alliance’s competitiveness,” the release read.
Also Read: Renault Could Cut Its Nissan Stake To Revive FCA Merger Talks
The Renault-Nissan Alliance was destabilized after Carlos Ghosn’s arrest in November 2018. In June, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) proposed a massive merger with the Alliance but the proposal was called off because Renault was unable to win the backing of Nissan and government representatives on the Renault board.
Nissan has requested Renault reduces its 43.4 per cent stake in the Japanese automaker to get its support for an FCA merger. In addition, Renault’s most powerful shareholder, the French government, recently admitted it is open to tweaking the alliance’s ownership balance and acknowledged it could cut its 15 per cent stake in Renault, the head of France’s shareholding agency Martin Vial said. However, France insists that cooperation between the car manufacturers is of utmost importance.
Earlier this week, the Japanese and French governments announced a cooperation agreement to work together in areas including autonomous driving, batteries and electric cars and, of course, also discussed the Alliance’s future in depth.
