EU and Japan work to deepen ties

Presidents Juncker i and Tusk i discussed the deepening of strategic ties with Japan at the 23rd EU-Japan summit including progress on the free trade negotiations and work on a new 5G standard.

Joint press conference by Prime Minister Abe, President Tusk and President Juncker

Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, Mr. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council and Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan met in Tokyo on 29 May 2015 for the 23rd Summit between Japan and the European Union.

As close partners, Japan and the European Union are working together to address issues of vital importance to our citizens and the world based on common values and shared principles and this summit will only serve to enhance that partnership.

At a press conference after the summit the Commission President underlined the importance of the bilateral relations and said that "Japan is the Europe's longest standing strategic partner in Asia and in the world. (…) Japan is a producer of stability, not only a consumer". The topics discussed at the summit ranged from jobs, growth and investment to the situation of Greece, fair taxation, free trade and climate change.

The EU and Japan are negotiating landmark Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) and Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) /Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that will deepen our cooperation and enhance our common prosperity. President Juncker underlined the need to remove barriers to trade and investments: "I strongly believe in the necessity to have the free trade agreement with Japan being concluded as soon as possible, possibly by the end of this year, if not, in the first months of 2016 . Speed is important but substance and quality are more important." In this context, he referred to a certain number of issues that have been submitted for meditation by the Japanese government and that need to be addressed. Speaking beforehand at the Keidanren, Japan's main industry federation, Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said: "We believe that if this deal is worth doing, it's worth doing right. We have to be ambitious on the substance as well as on the timing".

On climate change the President said: "We have to undertake all efforts to fight it. Europeans want to be as ambitious as possible for the UN climate conference in December. We have tabled our proposals. We would be happy if Japan does the same. Japan as the 4^th economy in the world and the 7^th emitter of greenhouse gas emissions has to be here. This is a responsibility of this generation not of the next."

With this summit, the EU and Japan are also joining forces with a new 5G agreement to cope with the increasing need for wireless Internet and to complement current efforts to create a Digital Single Market in Europe. The agreement will allow to work towards a common understanding and standards of 5G. In parallel, the EU and Japan have also agreed to deepen their cooperation on Research and Innovation (R&I).

The partners will also set up a joint funding mechanism that will make it easier to finance common R&I projects and collaborate more closely on policy aspects, like Open Science. The EU has also signed an agreement to stimulate scientific exchanges between its European Research Centre (ERC) and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

Global and regional security issues were also discussed. Both sides are committed to jointly address them.