Brussels, 26/04/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 28 April, Tokyo will host the 19th bilateral EU/Japan Summit. The president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso, High Representative Catherine Ashton and the Commissioner for trade Karel De Gucht will represent the Europeans, and Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will be the representative of the Japanese in discussions on the future of bilateral political, economic and trade relations between the EU 27 and the sixth EU trade partnership. European and Japanese leaders made a commitment during last May's Prague Summit to begin official negotiations this year on how to replace the action plan set up in 2001 and which expires in 2011 (EUROPE 9895).
In a letter sent to Mr Van Rompuy and Mr Barroso on 23 April, the Confederation of European Business (BusinessEurope) stated that the future framework governing future bilateral economic relations should emphasise non-tariff barriers, cultural differences and consumer preferences, in an effort to scrap trade and investment barriers. BusinessEurope is not currently supporting any of the three approaches discussed by the EU and Japan, which include an economic integration agreement, economic partnership agreements and an agreement on free trade. BusinessEurope affirmed that, “pursuing these approaches would result in an acceptable balance between different interests from the EU and Japan in the areas of tariffs”. The confederation is appealing for a feasibility study to be carried out but is also going further than this demand and would like a high-level EU/Japan Economic Partnership Council to be set up, which would examine how best to deepen economic and trade relations between the two partners. Bilateral trade in goods and services between the EU and Japan reached €91.6 billion in 2009 and €33.6 billion in 2008.
According to the Commission, the trade deficit of €19.5 billion registered by the EU in 2009 with regard to trade with Japan can be explained by the significant number of non-tariff barriers such as standards and limited access to Japanese public markets. The Commission is drawing, in particular, from the results of a study carried out by Copenhagen Economic, which put the potential gains European exporters would make if these barriers were removed, at €29 billion. (E.H.)