New strategic agreement between the EU and Japan to deepen cooperation and address global challenges

18.03.2014 17:45

New strategic agreement between the EU and Japan to deepen cooperation and address global challenges

The Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament today adopted, without a single vote against, a resolution to support the conclusion of an EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA).

"The agreement is of the utmost importance. The EU and Japan share fundamental values and opportunities to promote prosperity, global peace and stability," stated MEP Alojz Peterle, Rapporteur on the SPA for the European Parliament. "We have to remain forward looking, ambitiously oriented to a common future, and avoid getting stuck in issues of the past."

"Most importantly," Peterle concluded "the agreement defines more than 30 areas of strategic cooperation."

The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) will be a legally-binding agreement, but amongst the most important items are its political, global and sectorial issues of cooperation. The agreement will mark a turning point on an ambitious upgrade of political and economic relations between the EU and Japan. In parallel to the Strategic Partnership Agreement, an Economic Partnership Agreement is being negotiated, which may boost the EU's economy by around 1% of its GDP.

The report is expected to be adopted this mid-April in Strasbourg, at the last plenary session of the current legislature of the European Parliament.

Note to editors

The EPP Group is by far the largest political group in the European Parliament with 274 Members from 27 Member States.

<p><strong>ABOUT THE EU-JAPAN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (SPA)</strong></p> <p>EU-Japan relations have grown steadily since the 1991 Joint Declaration and the 2001 Action Plan, in terms of their range and level. However, both Japan and the EU decided to further enhance relations in a comprehensive manner, lifting them to a higher, more strategic and longer-term level. The Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) is a comprehensive binding agreement covering political, global and sectorial issues and areas of cooperation with Japan.</p> <p>The free trade aspects are covered within the Economic Partnership Agreement. Both are negotiated in parallel.</p> <p>After more than two years of preparations, scoping exercises and a shared interest in expanding the horizons of collaboration, the negotiations for both agreements were formally launched on 25 March 2013.</p> <p>Provisions within the agreement will create a solid base for more concrete actions as regards political dialogue, human rights, security matters (crisis management, non-proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction and counter terrorism), global issues (climate change, development, humanitarian aid, civil protection, environment), economic issues (industrial cooperation, customs, taxation, tourism, competition), sectorial cooperation (energy, transport, agriculture, fisheries and maritime affairs), social policy (health, consumer policy), cooperation in the area of justice, freedom and security (cybercrime, the fight against transnational crime, migration and asylum) and cooperation in the fields of research, innovation, space, education and culture.</p> <p>Since the launch of negotiations, four rounds of negotiations have taken place already, the last one in the last week of January 2014.</p> <p>When negotiations finish, the European Parliament will have the role of giving its formal consent for final ratification.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>ABOUT THE EU-JAPAN ECONOMIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT (EPA)</strong></p> <p>The Economic Partnership Agreement is negotiated in parallel to the Strategic Partnership Agreement. The agreement between the two economic blocks is expected to boost the EU&#39;s economy by 0.6 to 0.8% of its GDP and may create up to 420 000 jobs. It is expected that EU exports to Japan could increase by 32.7%, while Japanese exports to the EU would increase by 23.5%.</p> <p>Japan is the EU&rsquo;s second biggest trading partner in Asia, after China. The EU&#39;s main exports are concentrated in the sectors of machinery and transport equipment, chemical products and agricultural products. EU imports from Japan are mainly machinery, transport equipment, electronic items and chemical products. Trade in service is also developed, representing almost one third of total trading. Japan is a major investor in the EU (reaching EUR144.2 billion in 2011). Japan&#39;s inward FDI has increased markedly since the mid-1990s, but remains very low in comparison with other OECD countries (EU investments in Japan were worth EUR85.8 billion in 2011).</p> <p>Over the last decade, EU trade in goods with Japan was characterised by a regular fall in Japan&#39;s share of the EU&#39;s total trade in goods, more significant for imports than for exports, and a continuous deficit. The share of exports to Japan in the EU28 fell from 4.9% in 2002 to 3.3% in 2012 and the share of imports from Japan also dropped, from 7.9% to 3.6%. As a result, the EU trade deficit with Japan decreased from 30.3 billion in 2002 to 9.0 billion in 2012.</p>

Other related content