LONDON -- The representative of London's financial sector backed Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's "new capitalism" economic vision and said the City of London is eager to maintain business relations with China.
Ahead of a trip to Japan this month, Vincent Keaveny, Lord Mayor of the City of London, talked about how Japan and the U.K. are focused on developing research and development capacity as well as green and sustainable finance.
In an interview with Nikkei Asia, Keaveny also talked about how the island nations are considering new competitive regulatory frameworks.
"That forward thinking that's going on in the Japanese economy -- and there is the openness to some of these new developments such as the potential for digital trade -- would make it very much, in my mind, a country in which we should be looking to invest in, a country with which we should be looking to maximize our trading opportunities," Keaveny said in London.
On May 5, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave a keynote speech on economic policy in the City of London. Keaveny supported Kishida's rallying cry that Japan is, a "buy," saying, "I would back the prime minister's optimism in that respect."
Japan in 2020 was the second largest non-EU investor in the U.K. at over 102 billion pounds ($125 billion) in investment stock. In October 2020, the countries signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement which opened up digital trade and financial services.
Stability, which Kishida emphasized as one of Japan's strengths, is "a huge advantage of the Japanese financial system," Keaveny agreed.
While in Japan, Keaveny will meet Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda, Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike and regulators, as well as representatives of major financial institutions.
Keaveny also had positive things to say about China.
While the U.K's political relationship with China has become increasingly fraught, "the business relationship with China is a very strong one," he said. "I think certainly the U.K. government is sensitive to that and ... is keen to keep the business and economic relationships on a stable basis."
According to the U.K.'s Office for National Statistics, Britain imported more from China than from any other country in 2021, accounting for 13.3% of all goods imports to the U.K. China is also Britain's sixth largest export market for goods.
Keaveny emphasized that the City is working to ensure China is "part of the solution" in terms of adopting green finance and reducing carbon emissions to net zero. To maintain channels of communication, he is hopeful the Economic and Financial Dialogue, which last took place in June 2019, gets back on track.
As a global financial center, London's implementation of sanctions against Russian organizations and individuals has received much attention. For years London faced allegations of being a money-laundering hub for wealthy Russians. Keaveny said he didn't believe London had as much Russian money as was suggested.
He is confident that the sanctions will not negatively impact London. "Ultimately, by doing the right thing, London will be in a stronger and better position long term.
"The losers in this ultimately will be Russia."