1. The Dialogue was attended by Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. HAYASHI Yoshimasa and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, Mr. NISHIMURA Yasutoshi, as well as Mr. Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice President of the European Commission for an Economy that Works for People, and European Commissioner for Trade.

2. At the beginning of the meeting, the Ministers and the Executive Vice-President noted that a high level of cooperation has been achieved between Japan and the EU, which share fundamental values, and took this opportunity to endorse the "Japan- EU Digital Trade Principles".

3. The Ministers and the Executive Vice-President discussed in the dialogue, (1) Japan -EU Economic Cooperation, (2) Economic Security, and (3) Rules-Based Free and Fair Trade Framework.

(1) Japan-EU Economic Cooperation
Minister Nishimura expressed his desire to accelerate discussions on the inclusion of "Provisions for the Free Flow of Data" in the EU-Japan EPA, with the aim of achieving a commercially meaningful and high level of discipline, and stated his expectations for greater cooperation in the Global South in coordination with the EU's Global Gateway Strategy. He also requested the early lifting of the EU's import measures on Japanese food products, based on scientific evidence.

(2) Economic Security
The Ministers and the Executive Vice-President welcomed the progress of comprehensive cooperation between Japan and the EU in the field of economic security, and exchanged point of views on, "Addressing Economic Coercion," " Addressing Non-Market Policies and Practices," " Building Resilient Supply Chains," and " Export Control and Investment Screening", including cooperation in the context of the G7.
Minister Nishimura stated that in his evaluation the EU’s economic security strategy is in line with Japan’s economic security strategy and expressed his desire to promote cooperation between Japan and the EU to build a reliable and resilient supply chain, including specific areas of cooperation such as critical minerals, and shared his views on further strengthening Japan-EU cooperation.

(3) Rules-Based Free and Fair Trade Framework
The Ministers and the Executive Vice-President confirmed that The WTO should continue to be the cornerstone of a rule-based, free and fair trading system, and shared the view to work closely between Japan and the EU toward the success of MC13.
Minister Nishimura called for further cooperation between Japan and the EU to work toward MC13 for early realization of reforms to the dispute settlement system, the substantial conclusion of the negotiations on e-commerce by the end of this year, and to address non-market policies and practices.

Related Material

• Japan-EU Digital Trade Principles (original text)PDF

Division in Charge

Europe Division, Trade Policy Bureau