Japan

The EESC EU-Japan Follow-up Committee met on 3 October 2022 to discuss various aspects of EU-Japan relations. Main topics on the programme:

• The post-Covid situation in Japan with regard to economic, social and societal aspects
• Japan's possible association with the Horizon Europe - Research & Innovation Framework Programme

The 6th meeting of the EU DAG under the EU-Japan EPA took place on 14 December 2021. It was a working meeting, to follow up on the discussions of the previous meeting (19 October) and to prepare the upcoming joint meetings with the Japanese counterparts. In addition to updates and exchanges with the European Commission and the EU Delegation in Tokyo, the EU DAG members also had the opportunity to listen to a presentation on "Civil Society in Japan" by Professor Akihiro Ogawa at this meeting.

The members of the Domestic Advisory Group (DAG) of the EU - composed of representatives of employers' organisations, trade unions and various interest groups - exchanged views on matters related to trade and sustainable development, following up on the joint meetings that took place last January with their counterparts under the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). A discussion on these matters took place with the Commission's DG Trade. With the ILO (International Labour Organization) Japan office, they discussed the implementation of commitments to the ILO core conventions, and they received information from DG ENV (European Commission – Directorate-General Environment) on a project on Rethinking Plastics.

The EESC EU-Japan Follow-up Committee met the morning of 17 July. Items for discussion on the agenda were: the EU-Japan Relations in the post COVID-19 era and  Research and innovation. In addition to this, the Follow-up Committee assessed the current mandate period and reflected on future perspectives.