"Developing a New Paradigm in the Business Relationship Between the EU and Japan"

The 2nd annual meeting of the EU-Japan Business Round Table (BRT) took place at the Hotel Okura, Tokyo on 17 & 18 July 2000.

At the time, the BRT was called the "EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table" or "BDRT". The meeting was co-chaired by Etienne Davignon (Société Générale de Belgique) and Tadahiro Sekimoto (NEC Corporation). The meeting theme was "Developing a New Paradigm in the Business Relationship Between the EU and Japan".

Topics discussed

The meeting agenda included:

• Guest Speeches by:
  • Mr. Asano, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs
  • Mr. Arai, Vice-Minister of MITI
  • Commissioner E. Liikanen, Enterprise and Information Society
  • Mr. Hiranuma, Minister of MITI

• Changes of Business Environment
  • EU Economy and Business
    • "Competitiveness and Innovation in Europe"
    • "Prospect of European Economy"
  • Japanese Economy and Business
    • "Current situation and prospects of Japanese economy"
    • "Progress of Japan’s Deregulation"
    • "Future Corporate Management"

• “WG Report and Discussion"

• Meeting report to the authorities and comments from the Japanese Government and the Commission

• Press Conference - On 19 July 2000, The Japan Times published an article entitled, Japan, EU execs urge IT promotion

Documents from the 2000 annual meeting

Various documents are available from the 17 & 18 July 2000 annual meeting:

• Joint Recommendations
• Report from the BRT's WG1 on Creating an Open Environment for Trade and Investment
• Joint Position Paper from the BRT's WG2 on Accounting and Tax Issues
• EU-side Position Paper from the BRT's WG3 on International Standardisation
• Japan-side Position Paper from the BRT's WG3 on International Standardisation
• Joint Position Paper from the BRT's WG4 on Mutual Recognition Agreement
• Joint Position Paper from the BRT's WG5 on Electronic Commerce
• Guidelines for Discussion on WTO Issues and Policy statement by the BRT's WG6 on the World Trade Organization
• List of Members at the time of the meeting
• Press release in English

Other documents relating to the work of the BRT in 2000:

The 2001 Progress Reports from the European Commission and the Government of Japan, prepared in response to the BRT's 2000 Recommendations

Formal 'handover' of the BRT's 2000 Recommendations

The BRT's 2000 Recommendations were submitted to European Commission President Romano Prodi, President of the European Council Jacques Chirac and Yoshirō Mori, PM of Japan:

 The handover took place on the occasion of the 9th EU-Japan Summit, and the Summit Joint Conclusions made reference to the BRT:

References to the annual meeting in speeches by European Commissioners

The BRT's 2000 annual meeting was referenced in a 19 July 2000 speech given by European Commission President Prodi to Keidanren in Tokyo, and in an 18 July 2000 speech given by Pascal Lamy, European Commissioner responsible for Trade, to the Foreign Correspondents' Club