Nissan CEO looks forward to talks with new Renault chairman on Thursday

Nissan Motor CEO Hiroto Saikawa is intending to hold his first in person conversation with new Renault SA Chairman Jean-Dominique Senard on the sidelines of an alliance meeting in the Netherlands on Thursday, NHK reported.

“I want to utilize the opportunity as high as possible to talk with him,” Saikawa informed reporters on Wednesday in video aired on the Japanese public broadcaster.

A Nissan representative was not promptly available to comment.

The regular alliance meeting for Renault, Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors will be the first attended by Senard since he replaced Carlos Ghosn as chairman of the French automaker previous week.

Ghosn was indicted in Japan for financial misconduct and eliminated from his duties at the three automakers, threatening the future of the partnership he transformed into a worldwide industrial giant over twenty years.

Ghosn is awaiting trial in a Tokyo jail, where he has been jailed since his arrest in November.