[Title] Japan-EU Summit Joint Statement

H.E. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, H.E. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and H.E. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels today for the 26th EU-Japan Summit and issued the following statement.

We, the leaders of Japan and the European Union, reaffirm our resolve to work together for peace, security, sustainable development and prosperity, based on respect for international law. We will continue working together to support effective multilateralism, democracy, human rights and the rules- based international order with the United Nations at its core.

Bilateral relations

We welcome the provisional application of the Japan-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) as of 1 February 2019. We also welcome that the first Joint Committee of the SPA discussed priority areas, including sustainable connectivity and quality infrastructure, global issues, data security and security cooperation under the SPA. In this context we will intensify our dialogue on maritime issues including ocean governance. The SPA demonstrates the firm political will of Japan and the EU to strengthen our overall partnership and advance peace, stability and prosperity globally.

We welcome the entry into force of the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) as of 1st of February 2019 as one of the greatest achievements in Japan-EU relations. The EPA is the model of high standard rules in the 21st century to promote free, open, rules-based, and fair trade and investment. We also welcome the first Joint Committee of the EPA confirming our joint commitment to fully and efficiently implement the EPA and to facilitate the use of the EPA tariffs and other preferences to the full extent for the benefit of our respective citizens, consumers and businesses. We reaffirm the commitment to expanding market access for Japanese and European products, including through adhering to international standards. In this light, we welcome the addition of Japan on the EU list of Third Countries for raw milk, dairy products, eggs and egg products and will continue working to address the respective outstanding issues, including further review of import measures on Japanese and EU products and the ongoing work on regionalization. At the same time we recall the importance of promoting the development of international trade in a way that contributes to sustainable development, mindful of the needs of high levels of environmental and labour protection, and in this respect we reaffirm the importance of implementing the provisions of the Trade and Sustainable Development Chapter of the EPA. Japan and the EU will continue their investment negotiations, aimed at achieving a high standard agreement. We welcome the establishment of the Japan-EU High Level Industrial, Trade and Economic Dialogue and the holding of the first meeting in October 2018 that focused on global trade challenges, economic transformations linked to energy, environment and climate change issues, international investment and connectivity initiatives and the digital economy.

We underline our commitment to rules-based connectivity, bilaterally and in international fora, including on quality infrastructure and mobilization of finance for sustainable growth at the G7 and G20. Using existing frameworks of bilateral cooperation, we commit to a partnership on sustainable connectivity and quality infrastructure, including transport, energy, digital, and people-to-people exchanges. We will continue to cooperate towards improving the economic, social, fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability of connectivity between Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, including from the Indian to the Pacific Ocean. We will work together to further transparency, inclusiveness and a level playing field for investors and businesses in connectivity, non-discriminatory access, open public procurement, debt sustainability, protection of international property rights and respect for international norms and standards. We also share the view to deepen Japan-EU transport cooperation and look forward to the swift signature of the Japan-EU Civil Aviation Safety Agreement, if possible within this year, and will negotiate as quickly as possible an Agreement on Certain Aspects of Air Services.

We welcome the Japan-EU mutual data adequacy decisions creating the world's largest area of safe data transfers and building on a high degree of convergence between our systems, based on a high level of protection of personal data and privacy, a core set of individual rights and enforcement by an independent data protection authority. Based on this type of convergence, we will continue to work together with international partners to shape global standards for the protection of personal data.

We reconfirm our commitment to the Japan-EU Strategic Partnership in Research and Innovation and are committed to extend the co-funding of joint projects. We welcome the new arrangement to provide opportunities for collaboration between researchers from Japan Science and Technology Agency and the European Research Council

We confirm our intention to strengthen coordination on sustainable, affordable and secure energy supplies, both globally and domestically, including the joint efforts towards a flexible and transparent LNG market development as well as on energy innovation such as hydrogen, energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies, in support of transformation to low carbon energy systems. We also welcome working together to mobilise finance and improve the market and investment environment with a view to enhancing sustainable energy access and resilience.

We welcome the Policy Dialogue in Education, Culture and Sport and the joint funding of master programmes for consortia of Japanese and European universities.

Global challenges and governance

As close and like-minded partners, Japan and the EU will work together at the G7 and G20 in support of the rules-based international order. It is our joint ambition to ensure the success of the June G20 Summit in Osaka, by upholding shared values, delivering on past commitments and addressing emerging challenges.

We reiterate our commitment to keeping markets open and to strengthening the rules-based multilateral trading system with WTO as its core. As decided at the Charlevoix G7 Summit, the Buenos Aires G20 Summit and the Trilateral Meeting of the Trade Ministers of Japan, the EU and the US, we confirm our intention to continue working to advance WTO reform. Japan and the EU will work together to improve the current WTO rules to address global trade challenges, particularly on rule-making in key areas, for a level playing field. We commit to commence negotiations on strengthening industrial subsidies disciplines with other key WTO Members and to intensify cooperation to tackle forced technology transfers. We will continue working to enhance the monitoring function in WTO regular committees and to cooperate in order to ensure the proper functioning of the Appellate Body. We also recognise the importance of the WTO negotiations to put in place global rules on electronic commerce and will aim at giving political impetus to that end under Japan’s presidency of the G20.

We will strengthen Japan-EU digital cooperation in view of the digital transformation of our economies and societies to promote innovation and inclusiveness, including at the G20 Summit and the Ministerial meeting on Trade and Digital Economy in Tsukuba on 8-9 June 2019. In this context, the Japanese G20 Presidency will submit the concept of a "Data Free Flow with Trust" (DFFT) Initiative for discussion. We will also work together with a view to launching the Osaka Track which will provide political impetus to international discussions, in particular to the WTO e-commerce negotiations, to harness the full potential of data. We will also cooperate on other initiatives on the digital economy.

We reaffirm our strong support for an open, free, stable, accessible, interoperable, reliable and secure cyberspace. We will work together to take concrete measures individually and collectively to enhance mutual trust concerning data security, while respecting each other’s respective regulatory frameworks. We remain united in promoting the application of existing international law to cyberspace, particularly the United Nations Charter. We reaffirm our cooperation on the development and implementation of voluntary, non-binding norms of responsible State behaviour, emphasizing the importance of guaranteeing full respect for human rights and combating cyber theft of intellectual property and other malicious cyber activities as well as illegal content online, also reiterating the importance of regional confidence building measures. We also stress the importance of the private sector and other stakeholders in ensuring stability in cyberspace.

We will work together, including at the G7 and G20, to promote a human-centric approach to artificial intelligence.

We reaffirm our commitment to the 2030 Agenda with its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. We will strengthen cooperation in view of the United Nations High Level Political Forum at Heads of States level in September 2019 to reinvigorate the momentum towards implementation.

We recognise the unprecedented extreme weather events in all over the world and stress the urgency to step up global efforts to tackle climate change, including in the light of the latest scientific knowledge in the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5 degrees centigrade. We are committed to the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement according to the Katowice rulebook.

We call on countries, businesses and civil society to scale up climate action on all fronts, taking into account further efforts needed to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. We remain determined to show leadership through ambitious long term greenhouse gas reductions strategies by 2020, striving for achievement of a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in line with the Paris Agreement, and strengthening bilateral cooperation in all relevant fora. We will work together for a successful outcome of G20 especially on the importance of accelerating a virtuous cycle between environment and growth by breakthrough innovation.

We will strengthen cooperation for a successful outcome of the United Nations Climate Action Summit in September 2019 to achieve the Paris Agreement goals. Japan and EU Member States will work together toward efficient and effective operation of the Green Climate Fund, which undergoes its first official replenishment process this year. We will strengthen our cooperation and share experiences on ways to support deployment of private capital towards sustainable investments.

We reconfirm our resolve to address environmental challenges. We are committed to developing the circular economy and resources efficiency, promoting concrete action on marine plastic litter including micro-plastics, and addressing the negative environmental impact of single-use plastic products, while promoting safe and sustainable alternatives. In this context we recall and reaffirm our support for the innovative solutions envisaged in the Ministerial declaration of the United Nations Environment Assembly adopted at its fourth session (UNEA4). We commit to achieving the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, including through securing an inclusive, ambitious and realistic post-2020 framework at the UN Biodiversity Conference in KunMing in 2020. We underline our commitment to working constructively with a view to making recommendations to the United Nations General Assembly at the end of the process based on the resolution 72/277 Towards a Global Pact for the Environment adopted by the General Assembly on 10 May 2018.

Foreign and security policy

We affirm our commitment to contributing jointly to advancing international peace and stability, based on the rule of law and through intensified consultation and coordination. We reiterate our joint support for the Iran/Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. We also reaffirm our shared commitments to addressing the issues of the complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement by North Korea of its nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction and its ballistic missile programmes of all ranges; the early resolution of the abductions issue and support for US current efforts for diplomatic engagement towards peace and security on the Korean Peninsula; the conflict in eastern Ukraine, including by fully supporting negotiations in the Normandy format; Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and the tensions at the Kerch Strait; maritime security, underlining the critical importance of refraining from the threat or use of force and unilateral actions that are against international law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, in the East and South China Seas.

We are committed to stepping up our dialogue and cooperation on security and defence, in particular in the areas of maritime security, counter-terrorism, cyber security, and crisis management. Japan welcomes the EU's continued interest in greater involvement in the East Asia Summit and acknowledges the EU's efforts to promote the rule of law in the region.