[Title] Joint Press Statement, 10th Japan-EU Summit

The 10th Summit meeting between the European Union and Japan was held in Brussels, Belgium on 8 December 2001. Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium in his capacity as President of the European Council, assisted by the High Representative for the EU's Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana, and the President of the European Commission Romano Prodi met with Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan at the Summit.

The Leaders expressed satisfaction at the excellent atmosphere in which the discussions took place and on the significant results achieved over a substantial agenda. This highlighted the considerable progress made in strengthening bilateral relations since the adoption of the Joint Declaration in 1991.

They approved a comprehensive Action Plan, which gives a new impetus to bilateral relations by providing the foundations for both sides to build a "Decade of Japan-Europe Cooperation". They undertook to begin implementing the Action Plan, pursuing its four main objectives: promoting peace and security, strengthening the economic and trade partnership, coping with global and societal challenges, bringing together people and cultures. Future summits will review the implementation of the Action Plan and update it as necessary.

They reviewed a number of other important international political issues. In particular, they underlined their support for reconciliation and reconstruction in Afghanistan and will work together closely to ensure the success of the Steering Group meeting planned for Brussels in December and the Ministerial Conference planned for Tokyo in January. They stressed the urgency of completing a comprehensive needs assessment. They also discussed the measures they were taking to support countries in the region.

The leaders attached particular importance to creating international solidarity in combating terrorism. They discussed the concrete measures which each side had taken since 11 September and undertook to develop rapidly their cooperation in this field, both in the relevant multilateral institutions and bilaterally. In this regard, they issued a Joint Declaration on Terrorism.

The leaders discussed the international economic situation, the synchronous downturn in the major economies and the sharp slowdown in world trade. In this context, the leaders welcomed the outcome of the Doha WTO Ministerial meeting and affirmed their satisfaction with their good cooperation in the alliance formed to help launch the new round. They reached consensus to continue joint efforts to further liberalise trade and to strengthen the WTO rules by ensuring successful negotiations based on the comprehensive work programme enshrined in the Ministerial Declaration. They will do so in a way which promotes economic stability world-wide, addresses the challenges of the 21st century, supports the goal of sustainable development and integrates developing countries into the world economy, helped by technical assistance and capacity building initiatives.

The European Union leaders expressed their conviction that promoting structural reforms in Japan is essential for the recovery of Japan's economy as well as the world's economy as a whole. Thus they expressed their strong support for Japan's current economic reform efforts. Prime Minister Koizumi expressed his expectation that the introduction of the Euro, progress in enlargement and ongoing restructuring in the European Union would provide an important positive impulse not only for the EU economy, but also for the rest of the world.

In this regard, the leaders stressed that two-way trade and investment should be further enhanced through such measures as the implementation of the recently concluded Mutual Recognition Agreement and Prime Minister Koizumi welcomed more investments by European firms in Japan in the future.

The leaders recognised the special importance of strengthening intellectual contacts and promoting people to people exchanges between the EU and Japan and welcomed Japan's initiative to hold symposia on this subject in Europe and Japan next year, as well as bridge-building initiatives taken by both sides such as the upcoming investment symposium in Tokyo.