President Juncker at the 26th EU-Japan Summit
On 25th April 2019, the 26th Summit between the European Union and Japan took place in Brussels.
President Juncker and President Tusk represented the European Union. High Representative/Vice-President Mogherini, Vice-President Katainen and Commissioner Malmström also participated. Japan was represented by Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.
"This is a truly historic time for Japan, with its current presidency of the G20 and the accession of Crown Prince Naruhito as Emperor next week. Japan can rely on the European Union on both counts: to strengthen multilateralism, and to support its new era of Reiwa, which means “beautiful harmony” and perfectly sums up our partnership", said President Jean-Claude Juncker i. "Our new Economic Partnership Agreement is a landmark moment for global trade. The vast majority of the €1 billion of duties paid annually by EU companies exporting to Japan and vice-versa have been removed. This will help trade between us increase by up to nearly €36 billion. We now need to ensure that this success story continues by making sure we stay on track with the implementation."
Concrete outcomes of the summit include:
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-A joint commitment to strengthen cooperation on global issues and the rules-based international order with multilateralism, democracy, non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, open markets and a global trading system with the World Trade Organisation at its core;
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-Working together on international initiatives on data protection;
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-A new EU-Japan Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure;
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-Discussions on addressing regional and foreign policy issues, and strengthening the EU-Japan security partnership.
Leaders reviewed the implementation of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement and the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement, which were signed at last year’s summit. To recall, the two agreements bring together the economies of the EU and Japan, accounting for a third of the world’s GDP. They have created the largest open trade zone in the world, with a marketplace of 635 million people. The vast majority of the €1 billion of duties paid annually by EU companies exporting to Japan have been removed, and once fully implemented, customs duties on 99% of goods imported to Japan from the EU will also be removed. This will increase trade between the EU and Japan by up to €36 billion.
Leaders also discussed work to uphold and update the World Trade Organisation ahead of the G20 Summit taking place from 28 - 29 June 2019. In this context, President Juncker expressed his support for Japan’s Data Free Flow with Trust” initiative which would allow the free flow of data among countries with high levels of privacy protection. He also supported the launching of the “Osaka Track” which deals with e-commerce issues. The European Commission will play an active role in both initiatives. Finally, President Juncker underlined the importance of the adequacy decisions signed by the EU and Japan in January 2019, which create the world’s largest area of safe data flows between the two economies.
There is significant potential to find synergies between the European Union’s approach to connectivity, outlined by the Commission and the High Representative in September 2018 and Japan's Free and Open Indo Pacific Concept, with its focus on quality infrastructure. Leaders committed to a new EU-Japan Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure for cooperation on sustainable connectivity in third countries.
The Summit was closed by a joint press conference by the Leaders. It is available on EbS here.
Related links
EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement website