The EU-Japan Business Round Table (BRT), a forum of around 50 European and Japanese business leaders, co-chaired by Messrs. Fabrice Brégier (President and CEO of Airbus SAS) and Hiromasa Yonekura (Chairman of Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd.), has submitted a joint statement to the EU and Japanese Authorities, entitled “Strengthening the EU-Japan Economic Partnership - Unleashing the potential of economic relations through the swift conclusion of a comprehensive, ambitious, high-level and mutually beneficial FTA/EPA -”.

The BRT hopes that the 21st EU-Japan Summit will help move EU-Japan bilateral relations to a new level. The Summit will discuss various important issues to further enhance EU-Japan relations and realise strong and sustainable economic growth in the EU and Japan, in particular the negotiation of an EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement (FTA) / Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA).
The BRT appreciates the efforts that both sides’ Authorities have made in the FTA/EPA negotiations up to now. It now urges them to increase their efforts to tackle and resolve the substance of the outstanding issues, and calls on them to conclude as soon as possible a comprehensive, ambitious, high-level and mutually beneficial FTA/EPA that will unleash the potential of our economic relations by boosting EU-Japan trade and investment, promoting job creation, and spurring growth in both economies.
The BRT is ready to support the Authorities with industry expertise and would welcome an open dialogue with them on the progress of the negotiations.
The BRT strongly believes that enhanced EU-Japan cooperation will help create new growth in both the EU and Japan and contribute to dealing with such pressing tasks as establishing multilateral rules to promote trade and investment, furthering innovation, and preparing for the shift to a sustainable world economy taking into account the challenges of energy, resources, climate change, and an ageing society. The BRT urges the public and private sectors to join forces to build even stronger EU-Japan relations and take the bilateral cooperation to a new level.

Background
The EU-Japan Business Round Table (BRT) was created in 1999 to foster communications between Japanese and European industries. Its members are senior executives from around 50 leading European and Japanese companies. Its main objective is to submit recommendations to Japanese and European authorities in order to develop trade and investment between the EU and Japan, and to encourage industrial cooperation on issues of common interest, such as innovation, climate change, or industrial standards.