31/01/24 (Agence Europe) – The European Union and Japan have taken a major step forward in their strategic cooperation. On Tuesday 30 January, the two sides met for the first time within the new framework of the Working Group on international cooperation to create “more transparent, resilient and sustainable” supply chains. This working group builds on the discussions that took place during the high-level economic dialogue in October 2023, and is part of the EU’s economic security strategy. One of the aims of the discussions is to identify commercial strategies to diversify the EU’s supplies, particularly in the sectors in which it is most dependent. On Wednesday 31 January, the EU also announced that it had signed a protocol to include cross-border data flows within the economic partnership with Tokyo. (IS)