Events

In our calendar, you can find all the events organised or sponsored by the EU-Japan Centre, as well as other events related to EU-Japan relations.

22/09/2011 - Brussels, Belgium

A global partnership between the EU & Japan: (Seminar)

The future of economic partnership through an Economic Integration Agreement (EIA)

On 22 September 2011, the EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation organised a seminar, entitled “A global partnership between the EU & Japan: The future of economic partnership through an Economic Integration Agreement (EIA)” bringing together senior representatives of the EU and Japanese Authorities, industrial organisations and industry. The event was supported by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry (METI), the European Commission, JETRO and by the JBCE. The first session focused on the EU-Japan economic partnership and the likely impact of an EIA (also known as an “FTA/EPA”). The second session addressed business opportunities in Japan.

Following opening remarks by Hiroshi TSUKAMOTO (EU-Japan Centre), Michitaka NAKATOMI (METI) emphasised that an Economic Integration Agreement (EIA) would enjoy strong political, industry and popular support and introduced the Japanese Government’s strong will to open negotiations for an EU-Japan Agreement at the earliest opportunity by mentioning the latest speech made by new Prime Minister Noda. Mr Nakatomi presented the seven ‘pillars’ on which, he felt, an Agreement should be built to enable further business-oriented partnerships and called for intergovernmental discussions to be held in early November, on the margins of the G20 Summit. Having examined the current status of the EU-Japan relationship, João AGUIAR MACHADO (European Commission) emphasised that a reasonable timeframe should be taken to finally achieve an ambitious agreement and pointed out that it would be an important challenge for the global trade system. Welcoming Japan’s political commitment to begin negotiations he wanted clarification as to what Japan would be willing to discuss and how Japan would be ready to respond to European needs. The scoping exercise would assess this and would prepare the ground for effective negotiations which would lead to a broad and comprehensive agreement.

Marc VERMEIRE (Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) explained the role of the EU-Japan Business Round Table and summarised its submissions to the EU and Japanese Authorities, before introducing the philosophy, operations and activities of his company and concluded by emphasising the need for EU-Japan cooperation on environmental innovations. Adrian van DEN HOVEN (BUSINESSEUROPE) pointed out that any negotiation would invariably bring to the fore clashes of interest and that a prior dialogue between the sectors of European industry that are more and less enthusiastic would be needed. Priority issues identified by EU industry are tackling NTBs (including balancing reductions in tariffs), the importance of addressing automotive sector concerns, the need for further liberalisation on FDI and on procurement and service sectors which will be a huge potential area of cooperation. Tetsuya YAMADA (Toyota Motor Europe N.V./S.A.) described how sustainable mobility will address climate change concerns and outlined different technologies developed by Toyota sometimes in partnership with European organisations. Andrea BORAGNO (Alcantara S.p.A.) introduced his company, explained how it is tackling sustainability, its R&D philosophy, links to international designers and ties to Japan. The first session concluded with questions on the likely duration of the scoping phase, what Toyota would like to see in any agreement, the issue of high tariffs on particular products, whether any agreement would be based on the EU-Korean FTA model, possible commitments on NTBs and a question on automotive imports into Japan.

The second session began with Hidehiro YOKOO (JETRO) explaining JETRO’s promotion of investment between Europe and Japan – the existence of subsidies to encourage the creation of business activities in Japan, regional industry support programmes, the importance of supporting SMEs (including facilitating business tie-ups). He ended by outlining how JETRO is contributing to the realisation of an EIA. In the first case study Jonathan PADDISON (Knorr-Bremse Systems for Rail Vehicles GmbH) explained how “safety is our business”, outlined Knorr-Bremse’s activities with a particular focus on Japan – how as its activities and business developed it embraced Japanese requirements and now works with Japanese train suppliers to supply third countries. Jean-Michel GEFFROY (JCDecaux France) presented the second case study – having outlined JCDecaux’s role as the leading supplier of outdoor advertising, he described its Cyclocity® self-service bicycle hire scheme and how it had been introduced into Japan with the support of the national and regional authorities. Alison MURRAY (EBC) outlined the activities and structure of the EBC, described the positive experiences of 3 European retailers present in Japan, identified untapped opportunities and what has to happen for them to be realised, noted that despite considerable interaction over many years the situation has not changed but felt that the last EU-Japan Summit marked a turning point. She felt Japan was ready to change and that the benefits to European industry that will be offered by negotiations for an Agreement would be considerable. The seminar concluded with a second panel discussion at which points raised included access to the Japanese rail industry and problems experienced by some European retailers in Japan.

Programme

13:30	Registration
Session 1: EU-Japan economic partnership and the impact of an EIA
14:00	Welcome by Hiroshi TSUKAMOTO, Chairman of the event and (Japan-side) General Manager EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation
14:05	Global Partnership and Economic Integration between the EU and Japan by Michitaka NAKATOMI, Principal Trade Negotiator Ministry of Economy Trade & Industry of Japan
14:15	João AGUIAR MACHADO, Deputy Director-General, Directorate-General for Trade European Commission
14:25	Japan-EU business cooperation in technology by Marc VERMEIRE, Executive Officer, Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. & Managing Director, Sumitomo Chemical Europe S.A./N.V. Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.
14:35	European industry’s expectations for any agreement by Adrian van DEN HOVEN, Director, International Relations Department BUSINESSEUROPE
14:45	Towards Sustainable Mobility by Tetsuya YAMADA, Senior Coordinating Executive Toyota Motor Europe N.V./S.A.
14:55	Japanese technology and Italian heart by Andrea BORAGNO, Chairman & CEO Alcantara S.p.A.
15:05	Panel discussion
15:40	Coffee break
Session 2 – Business opportunities in Japan
16:00	Tying Up with Japan: Today and Tomorrow by Hidehiro YOKOO, President Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO)
16:10	Knorr-Bremse’s success factors in the Japanese Railway Market by Jonathan PADDISON, Vice President, Sales & Systems Locomotive Hauled Trains Knorr-Bremse Systems for Rail Vehicles GmbH
16:20	Jean-Michel GEFFROY, Managing Director JCDecaux France
16:30	Seizing the Opportunity in Japan – Why the EU Needs a Trade Agreement with Japan by Alison MURRAY, Executive Director European Business Council in Japan (EBC)
16:40	Panel discussion
17:00	End of the event

Audience Photo © EU-Japan Centre

Panel discussion and audience Photo © EU-Japan Centre

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