Japan and the EU: A Valuable Partnership for the future

Speech by H.E. Takekazu KAWAMURA
Ambassador of Japan to the European Union

At the Center for International Relations
In Warsaw, Poland

10 April 2006

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, First of all, I would like to extend my thanks to the Center for International Relations, in particular to Mr. Smolar, the President of the Center, for organizing such an honourable gathering. It is a great pleasure for me to be able to talk to you today, on Japan-EU relations and share views with you all.

Poland itself became a member of the EU in 2004, and has since been playing an increasingly active role, not only on the European, but also on the international scene. Due to such Polish membership to the EU, Poland and Japan have started developing a new sort of relations of the two, in addition to the pre-existing cordial bilateral relations.

Ladies and Gentlemen, as the ambassador of Japan to the EU, I am here to speak primarily on Japan's relationship with the EU. As this topic can be quite broad, I will divide it into three parts: brief description of Japan-EU relations, Japanese presence in the EU, and Japan-EU partnership in a global context.

  I. Brief Description of Japan-EU Relations

I will start with a brief description of Japan-EU relations.

31 years ago, namely in 1975, as the relationship became more mature, the government of Japan decided to open its Mission to the then European Communities in Brussels.

On the Governmental level

In 1983, regular dialogues started to take place twice a year at the Ministerial level for Foreign Affairs. In addition, several ministers initiated discussions in their respective domains.

In 1991, with a view to further promoting the relations, Japan and the EU decided to raise their communication to the highest level; that is to say, the Prime Minister on the Japanese side, and the President of the European Commission and the Head of State or Government of the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU on the European side.

This Japan-EU annual summit has since been held in Japan and Europe alternately. This year, the 15th summit will continue the tradition in Tokyo. Exchange of views between senior officials of two sides has also become frequent. It is also worth noting that other high level communications are successfully taking place in the form of exchanges between members of the Japanese and European Parliaments, especially through annual "Japan-EU Inter-parliamentary Meetings".

I do not need to emphasize that all these dialogues and contacts have contributed greatly to the furtherance of mutual understanding and enhancement of the Japan-EU relations.

On the Business Level

As for the business aspect of our relations, dialogues between people in business on both sides became active in the early 80's.

Ever since 1999, these dialogues have taken shape in the form of the Japan-EU "Business Dialogue Round Table", or BDRT. There, business people discuss issues of common interest to improve their business environments. At the beginning, trade issues occupied a major part. Subsequently, various other economic issues have emerged on the agenda.

The BDRT is not just a private forum. It annually expresses its opinions and suggestions to political leaders of Japan and the EU for further improvement of the economic environment.

Their contributions in this field are not negligible. One of the best examples is that, in 2004, the BDRT submitted a policy proposal on establishing a framework for mutual efforts to facilitate an increase in foreign direct investment.

Following the proposal, the Japan-EU Summit of that year adopted several important documents for effective cooperation between Japan and the EU, and they included "Cooperation framework for Promotion of Japan-EU Two-way Investment".

People to People Exchange

Let me also explain about the Japan-EU relations from cultural and social perspectives.

As you may already be aware, 2005 was designated as the "Japan-EU Year of People-to-People exchanges". Many of you here may even have attended some of its activities.

In fact, although only recently becoming a member state, Poland didn't miss the opportunity to deepen mutual understandings between Japan and the EU as well as between Japan and Poland in this exchange year. As you can imagine, these events contributed greatly to further personal and cultural exchanges between the peoples. I learned that about 100 events were held in Poland within this framework. Number of the events held in Japan and EU member countries exceeded 1900 in total, about 400 in Japan and the rest in the EU countries.

I believe that we should continue to promote such exchanges, in order to strengthen the foundation of our relationship.

Without such a solid basis at the grassroots level, political and economic exchanges would remain superficial.

(Change in the nature of the relations)

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The world scene has changed dramatically since the fall of the Berlin wall, and is still changing. Faced with the changes on the international political stage, Japan and Europe have been trying to adapt as best as they could. The application of the Maastricht and Amsterdam treaties, for example, prepared the ground for a more stable Europe.

In addition, the introduction of the "Common Foreign & Security Policy" and the "European Security and Defence Policy" started to gradually modify Europe's image in the international political arena.

Japan on its part began to re-examine its role and responsibilities in the world. The need for Japan to contribute to peace and stability, as well as prosperity in Asia, the Middle East and other regions became more accepted in the debates of the Japanese people.

Nevertheless, it took Japan and the European Union ten years after the fall of the Berlin wall, to fully comprehend the need to expand the scope of dialogues on international political affairs.

Indeed, it was at the Japan-EU Summit held in 2001 that Prime Minister Koizumi and then President Prodi of the European Commission agreed on a "10-year Action Plan for Japan-EU Cooperation". This Action Plan encompassed a wide range of political issues of international importance as well as economic, social and cultural areas.

September 11 only added the importance of political dialogue addressing, in particular, the threat of terrorism. The weight of the role to play for Japan and the EU in the international community is increasing, and Japan-EU consultations on international political affairs have become more frequent.

  II. Japan's Presence in the EU

Now, I would like to talk about Japan's presence in the EU. Overall, as the relations between Japan and the EU have been developing as I mentioned before, Japanese presence is getting increasingly remarkable in the EU.

In spite of Japan's economic situation over the last 15 years, the number of Japanese affiliated companies in Europe has been increasing at a steady rate. The total number of Japanese affiliates in Europe grew from 2,162 in 1996 to 3,208 in 2004. The growth is particularly noteworthy in new Member States such as your country, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. In the case of Poland, for example, the number increased from 52 in 2000 to 130 in 2005.

In fact, as suggested by these figures, Japanese investment in Europe has grown steadily in recent years, and reached around 7 billion dollars in 2004, while the corresponding figure to the United States was only marginally higher. I should also note that between 2002 and 2004, the average figure of EU investment in Japan was approximately 5.5 billion dollars, considerably greater than US investments into Japan.

Such a growth in Japanese investment has also produced employment opportunities in Europe. In 2004, Japanese auto manufacturers alone created more than 200,000 jobs in Europe; amongst which, almost 40,000 were directly related to production, and research and development activities.

It is also important to note that trade remains one of the important elements in our relationship: Japan is the fourth largest source of imports of the EU after the USA, China and Russia, while the EU is Japan's fifth largest.

According to statistics obtained in October 2004, there were 152,069 Japanese nationals residing in the EU 15 Member States, up from 128,907 in 1997. Compared to the number of Japanese citizens living in the U.S., which was 228,000, it may not sound very striking, but the figure for the EU nevertheless accounts for more than 15 % of the total number of Japanese nationals living overseas.

At that time, sums of about 960,000 Japanese people were living outside of Japan.

As the number of Japanese people living in Europe increases, so does the number of Japanese restaurants. At present, there are more than 40 Japanese restaurants in Belgium alone, while in Germany, the number is up to 300. No doubt you see a similar trend here in Poland. I should note that the major customers for these restaurants are not only Japanese but also Europeans. The steady increase of Japanese investment in the EU, accompanied by the growth in number of Japanese affiliates/residents, has thus contributed not only to "growth and jobs" in Europe, but also to Europe's cultural diversity.

  III. Japan-EU Partnership

The final part of my speech is about Japan-EU Partnership in a global context.

1. Cooperation towards peace and stability

Japan and the EU share fundamental values and principles of freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights and market economy.

You, European people, decided to put war behind and construct a society where the concept of military conflict was no longer imaginable. Japan itself renounced resorting to force as a solution of international disputes since 1945.

This determination to renounce the use of force is strongly rooted in the Japanese people. With a view to ensuring peace and stability, Japan works closely with the European Union in all parts of the world.

How in more concrete terms do Japan and the EU cooperate? Let me show you a few examples.

West Balkans

The European Union is an actor par excellence in West Balkan affairs. It makes great efforts to maintain peace and re-establish economic and social stability there. Japan contributes to such European efforts through organising supporting meetings in close collaboration with the EU and by providing technical and financial assistance of more than 1.1 billion dollars to the region this far.

Iran

Iran too has benefited from the Japan-EU partnership.

Recognising the political and economic importance of the country, Japan and the EU maintain close consultations with one another to explore solutions to the nuclear issue, and sustain world stability in this context.

Asia

The third example is our cooperation in Asia. All eyes are focused on the economic dynamism of Asian countries such as China, India as well as most of the ASEAN countries. The region, however, is not without some security and political problems and challenges, such as the Korean Peninsula and Taiwan issues. We, the EU and Japan, therefore, are engaged in closer dialogues on East Asia and other issues in Asia.

In this regard, I want to draw your particular attention to one concrete case of such Japan-EU dialogues. At the Japan-EU Summit last year, the both leaders agreed to hold a strategic dialogue on the East Asian security environment. The first meeting of the dialogue was held last September to the satisfaction of both sides. The EU countries used to have the tendency to regard the region mainly as an economic market. Through the dialogue, however, they have come to understand and grasp more deeply the political and strategic situations of the region, which will have important implications in relation to the peace and stability of the whole world.

2. Common Issues: global and internal

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Japan and the EU face other challenges common to both. Some are global, and others are about their respective societies.

Global issues

Poverty plagues the world. To fight against such suffering, technical and financial assistance will continue from both Japan and the EU through more and better consultation. Environmental issues have also constantly been on our common agenda, and we are currently working closely together in a wide range of issues from climate change to energy efficiency, fight against terrorism to proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and avian influenza to other infectious diseases.

Internal Issues

In addition to these world-wide issues, when we look at our own societies, we can also find many issues that are common to us. For instance, Japan and some of the EU Member countries are faced with rapidly aging societies, accompanied by extremely low birth-rates.

This implies a possible decrease in economic capacity if appropriate measures are not put in place. In this context, we could share experiences and learn from each other.

  IV. Conclusion

Ladies and Gentlemen,

All issues I have just reflected on demonstrate the extent to which cooperation between Japan and the EU is important and desirable. On occasions, this may not be easy. I believe, however, that our partnership should continue to evolve to meet challenges of today.

And before concluding my brief presentation, let me express 2 expectations.

First, I expect the EU to play even more active roles in the world. The EU has been growing in terms of integration and expansion. And the weight of its voice in the making of multilateral efforts, be it in peace building or rule making, increases accordingly. Understandably, the EU is often too busy in internal processes of discussions and coordination. But I am one of those who believe in a strong EU.

It has been playing positive roles on the world scenes, and I expect even more from the EU. I should hasten to add that Japan equally has global roles to play, and that very often with the EU.

Second, in such an EU, I expect Poland to play not only active but also positive roles. Poland is important not only because it happens to be relatively large in population and land area, but perhaps also because of its history and culture that would add to the diversity and balance in European perspectives when Europe makes decisions, internal or external.

I understand that Poland will take on the EU Presidency in 2012. Japan looks forward to working closely with the Polish presidency, but of course we do not have to wait till 2012. We will collaborate, either directly or through the growing EU.

In our collaboration, there is certain premise on which we all should work. In the era of globalization, a fortress Europe would not work. Neither a fortress Poland nor a fortress Japan.

Thank you.