The EU will hold its next summit with Japan by videoconference on 27 May 2021, according to a preparatory document for Member State representatives, a copy of which has been obtained by EUROPE.
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, are expected to attend the meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
“This summit will be an opportunity to reflect the EU’s increasingly broad, deep and dynamic alliance with Japan”, the document says.
On the agenda: the place and role of both partners in multilateral relations on economic, health or environmental issues, the strengthening of bilateral relations and security and foreign policy issues. On these different issues, the EU has set a series of objectives to be achieved at the end of the summit.
Trade
It wants to strengthen the role of the EU and Japan in the international trade arena by, for example, engaging its partner in extensive cooperation on World Trade Organization (WTO) reform.
Japan has become one of the EU’s preferred trading partners since the entry into force of the Economic Partnership Agreement in 2019. The EU therefore wishes to involve it in the active promotion of its values. The defence of “effective multilateralism” and a rules-based international order is a high priority of this summit.
The further implementation of the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement will also be on the table. Like the addition of 28 protected geographical indications to the trade agreement in February 2021, the EU wants to further “[deliver] on EU economic and trade interests”.
Climate
The document also mentions “vital climate and environmental policy goals” that need to be pursued. The EU hopes to announce a new EU-Japan Green Alliance after the summit. The aim of this Alliance is to exchange good practices in the areas essential to accelerate the green transition.
Infrastructure
Another important objective of this meeting is to continue the work on the new EU-Japan partnership for sustainable connectivity and quality infrastructure. The EU wishes to report “concrete progress” on this issue. It expects, in this framework, a commitment to “actions on digital, transport, energy, human connectivity with third countries”. It mentions the example of facilitating investment finance for connectivity. This partnership for sustainable connectivity was initiated during the 2019 EU-Japan Summit.
See the document: https://bit.ly/3uspKry (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)