Annual Meeting 2015

17th BRT Annual Meeting – Brussels, 28 April 2015:"EU AND JAPAN – PAVING THE WAY FOR A RENEWED INDUSTRIAL PARTNERSHIP"

The 2015 EU-Japan Business Round Table (BRT) Annual Meeting took place at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels on 27 & 28 April 2015 with the theme of "Paving the Way for a Renewed Industrial Partnership". It was chaired by Fabrice Brégier (President & CEO, Airbus SAS) and Kazuo Tsukuda (Senior Executive Adviser of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd.).

Photos © Damienne de Harlez

High-level participants from the EU and Japanese Authorities
Carlos Moedas (Commissioner, Research, Science and Innovation), Directors-General Daniel Calleja-Crespo (Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship & SMEs) and Jean-Luc Demarty (Trade), together with Maria Åsenius (Head of Cabinet for Cecilia Malmström, Commissioner for Trade) and Zoran Stančič (Deputy Director-General for Communications Networks, Content & Technology) represented the EU Authorities at the 17th BRT Meeting. Yoshihiro Seki (Parliamentary Vice-Minister of Economy, Trade & Industry), Naoki Ito (Deputy Director-General, Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and Kiyoshi Mori (Director-General for International Affairs, Global ICT Strategy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs & Communications) were the high-level participants from the Government of Japan.

Topics discussed
As well as having high-level discussions with the EU and Japanese Authorities, the BRT Members discussed and adopted general and sectoral recommendations to the EU and Japanese Authorities and had detailed discussions on the progress that has been made in the EU-Japan FTA/EPA negotiations, the goal and scope of EU-Japan regulatory cooperation, energy and climate change and the role industry can play in shaping a COP21 agreement and industrial cooperation in the transport sector.

The meeting resolved to submit its joint recommendations to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, European Council President Donald Tusk, and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker.

Various documents are available from the meeting:

• Meeting Agenda (a Japanese version is also available)
• Press Releases in English and in Japanese relating to the formal handover of the BRT's Recommendations to President Juncker and in English and Japanese relating to the subsequent formal handover to PM Abe.
• Summary of Recommendations
• Recommendations - WP A - Trade Relations, Investment and Regulatory Cooperation
• Recommendations - WP B - Life Sciences and Biotechnologies, Healthcare and Well-being
• Recommendations - WP C - Innovation, Information & Communication Technologies
• Recommendations - WP D - Financial Services, Accounting and Tax Issues
• Recommendations - WP E - Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development
• List of Members (at the time of the meeting)
• Joint Statement on COP21
• The uncorrected text of the Speech given by Commissioner Moedas during the formal dinner on Monday 27 April.

Other documents relating to the work of the BRT in 2015:

• The 2016 Progress Reports from the European Commission and the Government of Japan, prepared in response to the BRT's 2015 Recommendations
• The 2015 annual meeting was previewed in a European Commission News Article of 24/03/2015 entitled, 21st EU-Japan ICT dialogue: strengthening cooperation
• METI news article entitled Parliamentary Vice-Minister Seki Visited Belgium, published on 30/04/2015. A Japanese version can be found in the web archive of the National Diet Library:
  
• The 2015 annual meeting and formal handover to President Juncker were announced in the EC's "Commissioners's Weekly Activities" for the week beginning 27 April 2015.
  • For Monday, 27 April 2015:
    
  • For Wednesday, 29 April 2015:
    

Submission of Recommendations to the President of the European Commission

On 29 April 2015 (the day after the meeting concluded), Kazuo Tsukuda (BRT Chairman, Japan side) and Markus Beyrer (BRT Member and Director-General, BUSINESSEUROPE) led a delegation to submit the BRT's Recommendations to Commission President Juncker. For more details see the press release.

The official website of the European Commission reported the handover and has both pictures from the meeting and a video recording of the encounter.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker greets BRT co-Chairman Kazuo Tsukuda	Participants in the handover of the BRT's Recommendations to President Juncker
Photos © Damienne de Harlez

Submission of Recommendations to the Prime Minister of Japan

On 18 May 2015, Kazuo Tsukuda (BRT Chairman, Japan side) and Danny Risberg (BRT Member and Chairman, European Business Council in Japan and CEO, Philips Electronics Japan Ltd.) led a delegation to submit the BRT's Recommendations to PM Abe. For more details see the press release.

The handover was reported on the official Japanese Government websites in both English and Japanese, together with a video recording and pictures from the meeting.

BRT co-Chairman Kazuo Tsukuda formally hands over the 2015 Recommendations to PM Abe	BRT Member Danny Risberg, BRT co-Chairman Kazuo Tsukuda and PM Abe
Handover photos © courtesy of Cabinet Secretariat, Cabinet Public Relations Office

The BRT and the EU-Japan Summit

The 23rd EU-Japan Summit was held in Tokyo on 29 May 2015. Following their meeting, Messrs Shinzo Abe (Prime Minister of Japan), Donald Tusk (President of the European Council), and Jean-Claude Juncker (President of the European Commission) issued a joint statement part of which acknowledged the BRT and its work:

"...We also recognise the importance of active and continued contribution of the Business Round Table to further development of bilateral economic relationship, and welcome the recommendations it adopted in April 2015".

The full text of the Summit Leaders' Joint Statement is available in English and Japanese. The BRT is mentioned in paragraph 24 (first and last bullet points).