Meeting at ministerial level on Tuesday in Brussels

Brussels, 07/01/2000 (Agence Europe) - The EU/Japan half-yearly meeting at ministerial level (European Commissioners, Japanese ministers) will be held on Tuesday 11 January in Brussels. The European Commission will be represented by Commissioners Chris Patten (Foreign Affairs), Pascal Lamy (Trade), Mario Monti (Competition), Franz Fischler (Agriculture), and the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection David Byrne. Japan will be represented by Foreign Minister Mr Kono, MITI Mr Fukaya, Agriculture Minister Mr Tamazawa and the secretary of state for economic planning. The Japanese ministers will be meeting European Commission President Romano Prodi at midday.

After an overview of the economic situation in the two regions and on bilateral trade, the ministerial meeting will review:

• Negotiations in the context of WTO and conditions for relaunching the Millennium Round.
• EU/Japan cooperation and dialogue: a) negotiation has been in progress for four years now on a mutual recognition agreement; b) dialogue on legislative reform; c) strengthened cooperation in competition matters; d) dialogue between consumers, mainly concerning food safety and genetically modified organisms; e) dialogue between businessmen; f) the environment.
• Regional and local stakes: enlargement and common security and defence policy in Europe, EU/Asia dialogue in the context of Asem (mainly in the field of education), the next G7/G8 in Okinawa, the UN Millennium Summit.