EU-Japan Symposium:
“The EU and Japan – towards a stronger partnership"
Budapest, 3rd March 2011
H.E. Ambassador Nobutake Odano speaking at the EU-Japan Symposium in Budapest
H.E. Ambassador Nobutake Odano spoke at the first session of the EU-Japan Symposium: “The EU and Japan – towards a stronger partnership" in Budapest on 3rd March, 2011.
In his speech entitled “Strengthening the Bilateral Ties through Comprehensive Integration”, Ambassador Odano spoke of how Japan is a like-minded global partner for Europe, with a shared commitment to Democracy, Freedom of Speech and other fundamental values and principles. Mutual trade and investment are significant aspects of that partnership, and there remains vast untapped potential of cooperation.
He said that to further strengthen the bilateral relations, Japan and the EU have been engaged in a joint examination of the ways to comprehensively integrate the economic relationship. Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) is a beneficial choice for Japan and the EU to accelerate more comprehensive economic integration through bilateral cooperation in the fields of government procurement, investment, and intellectual property rights, to name but a few.
Ambassador Odano stressed that in the midst of this strengthened partnership, Japan and the EU can be the major driving forces towards a more stable and prosperous common future by working together on global challenges such as climate change, multilateral trade negotiations of WTO, antipiracy operations, fight against international terrorism, energy and food security.