Annual Meeting 2010

12th BRT Annual Meeting, Tokyo, 19 & 20 April 2010:

"EU-JAPAN BUSINESS - GEARING UP FOR THE NEXT DECADE"

The EU-Japan Business Round Table took place on 19 and 20 April 2010 in Tokyo, under the co-chairmanship of Messrs. Tadashi Okamura (Advisor to the Board, Toshiba) and Jean-Yves Le Gall (Chairman and CEO, Arianespace).

With the 2001 EU-Japan Action Plan set to lapse in 2011, the BRT agreed a set of recommendations, to be handed over to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, President Herman Van Rompuy and President José Manuel Barroso at the official residence of the Prime Minister of Japan in Tokyo.

In particular, it called on the EU and Japanese Authorities to "reset" EU-Japan bilateral relations by establishing the right framework, and making the EU-Japan strategic partnership a reality in the economic sector in order to enhance trade and investment. Moreover, once the Authorities feel that the right conditions for promoting an ambitious expansion of trade and investment are met, the BRT called on them to start negotiations for a balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral agreement.

Various documents are available from the meeting:

• Press Release and list of members in English and press release in Japanese
• Summary of Recommendations
• Recommendations - WP A - Trade, Investment and Regulatory Cooperation
• Recommendations - WP B - Life Sciences and Biotechnologies
• Recommendations - WP C - Information & Communication Technologies
• Recommendations - WP D - Financial Services, Accounting and Tax Issues
• Recommendations - WP E - Innovation, Environment and Sustainable Development

Other documents relating to the work of the BRT in 2010/11:

• Japanese-language version of the speech given by Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada (an English machine translation can be found here) and two articles on the MOFA website previewing Mr Okada's participation: "Attendance of the Annual Meeting of the 12th EU-Japan Business Round Table by Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Koichi Takemasa, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs" and "岡田外務大臣及び武正外務副大臣の第12回日・EUビジネス・ラウンドテーブル（BRT）本会合への出席"
• The 2011 Progress Reports from the European Commission and the Government of Japan, prepared in response to the BRT's 2010 Recommendations.
• Press Release of 19 January 2011, following the meeting between the BRT co-Chairmen and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan at which the co-Chairmen pushed for the strengthening of EU-Japan trade and economic relations.

Submission of Recommendations to the EU-Japan Summit

On 28 April 2010, Messrs. Tadashi Okamura and Jean-Yves Le Gall submitted the BRT's 2010 Recommendations to the EU-Japan Summit leaders - Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. The handover was reported on the website of the Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet.

Co-Chairmen meet Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan

On 19 January 2011, BRT EU-side Chairman, Jean-Yves Le Gall (Chairman & CEO of Arianespace) and the new BRT Japan-side Chairman, Hiromasa Yonekura (Chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.) me with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan and pushed for the strengthening of EU-Japan trade and economic relations.

The meeting was reported on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and on the official website of the Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet in both English and Japanese and a video recording of the public part of the meeting is available.

The BRT and the EU-Japan Summit

The 19th EU-Japan Summit was held in Tokyo on 28 April 2010 and brought together Mr Yukio Hatoyama, Prime Minister of Japan; Mr Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council; and Mr José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission. In the Joint Press Statement issued by the Summit Leaders at the end of the Summit, the Summit leaders mentioned the work of the BRT (Annex):

Summit leaders recognised the value of the work of the Japan-EU Business Round Table and continued to have a strong interest in the discussion between the business communities of both sides.

Photographs from the 2010 BRT

Additional photographs were posted on the website of the Delegation of the European Union to Japan and can be viewed via a 2013 archived version of the Delegation website.