Annual meeting 2004

6th BRT Annual Meeting – Tokyo, 20 & 21 June 2004:

"GIVING A NEW IMPETUS TO EU-JAPAN RELATIONS AND ADDRESSING NEW SECTORS"

The 2004 annual meeting of the EU-Japan Business Round Table took place on 20 and 21 June 2004 in Tokyo, under the co-chairmanship of Messrs. Étienne Davignon and Yotaro Kobayashi.

A short highlights video (© European Communities, 2004) containing footage from the EU-Japan Summit and the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table can be found on the Commission website.

The first day began with discussions on the "Japanese Economy", "China in the World Economy", "EU - Political and Economic Evolution", "EU Economy, Follow-up on EU Enlargement and New Governance in the EU", "Global Issues, including WTO, FTA and RTA and Policy Statement concerning the WTO" and "Europe-Japan cooperation on satellite launch services". It concluded with reports by the BRT Working Parties, a drinks reception and dinner. The second day began with the adoption of the 2004 Joint Recommendations and Recommendations by Working Party. That was followed by the Joint Session with the EU and Japanese Authorities including speeches by and exchanges with:

• Shoichi Nakagawa, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI)
• Erkki Liikanen, Member of the European Commission, responsible for Enterprise and the Information Society - speech entitled, "Working with Industry towards a deeper EU-Japan cooperation"
• Masahiro Tabata, Senior Vice-Minister for Public Management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications (MPHPT)
• Pascal Lamy, Commissioner
• Ichiro Aisawa, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs (MOFA)

The meeting concluded with a Press Conference.

Various documents are available from the meeting:

• Meeting agenda
• Press Release
• Summary of Recommendations
• Recommendations - WP 1 - Trade, Investment and Regulatory Cooperation
• Recommendations - WP 2 - Accounting and Taxation
• Recommendations - WP 3 - Information & Communication Technologies
• Recommendations - WP 4 - WTO
• Recommendations - WP 5 - Life Sciences and Biotechnologies
• Recommendations - WP 6 - Sustainable Development

Other documents relating to the work of the BRT in 2004:

• The 2005 Progress Reports from the European Commission (with an Addendum on Life Sciences and Biotechnology) and from the Government of Japan, prepared in response to the BRT's 2004 Recommendations.
• The BRT's 2004 annual meeting was previewed in a European Commission press release issued on 21/06/2004.
• The 2004 and 2005 annual meetings were also referenced in a speech given by Günter Verheugen on 01/03/2005 , Vice-President of the European Commission.

Submission of Recommendations to the EU-Japan Summit

22/06/2004 - co-Chairmen Étienne Davignon and Yotaro Kobayashi submitted the BRT's 2004 Recommendations to the 13th EU-Japan Summit which took place in Tokyo a day after the BRT annual meeting concluded. The Summit Leaders were Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan; Bertie Ahern, Taoiseach, in his capacity as President of the European Council; and Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission.

The BRT was mentioned in two documents issued by the Summit:

Document 1: 13th EU-Japan Summit Joint Press Statement
For the prosperity of the world economy
Noting that economic relations between Japan and the EU are thriving, each having become a significant stakeholder in the other's economy, they recognised that strengthening trade and investment links further between them will help spread prosperity more widely. With this objective, they endorsed a Cooperation Framework aimed at promoting two-way investment. This foresees concrete actions to address key issues of concern to business, such as dialogues on new regulations; regulatory transparency; cooperation on standards and conformity assessment; creation of a transparent, predictable and internationally competitive investment environment; as well as facilitation of conditions for foreign residents. The framework also responds to the recommendations made by the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Roundtable at the last EU-Japan Summit.

Document 2:Cooperation Framework for Promotion of Japan-EU Two-Way Investment
Two-way flows of foreign direct investment reinvigorate economies by, inter alia, introducing new technologies and innovative managerial know-how, creating employment opportunities and thus brings enormous benefits to both sides. Today, Japan and the European Union therefore reaffirmed that further flows of foreign direct investment between them is of key importance in their economic relations.

Supporting this view, the private sector, through in particular the Business Dialogue Round Table, has called for measures to give a further boost to investment flows between Japan and the EU. In response, both sides will take the concrete steps described in the following paragraphs to promote two-way investment. These will be built on the efforts undertaken to date under the "Action Plan for Japan-EU Cooperation" and the "Japan-EU Initiatives on Investment" while maintaining close contact with the private sector. Both sides also recalled their common commitment on the appropriate way to move on the investment agenda in the WTO. Moreover, they took this opportunity to jointly remind their multinational enterprises of their recommendation to observe the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises, wherever they operate. 

Photographs from the 2004 BRT

Photos from the BRT can be found at the bottom of this page. Click on an image to see an enlarged version.