Annual meeting 2005

7th BRT Annual Meeting – Brussels, 7 & 8 July 2005:

"A CONTINUED INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO ADDRESS NEW COMMON CHALLENGES"

The 2005 BRT annual meeting took place in Brussels on 7 & 8 July 2005. It was co-chaired by Étienne Davignon (Deputy Chairman of Suez-Tractebel) and Yotaro Kobayashi (Chairman of the Board of Fuji Xerox).

A short highlights video (© European Communities, 2005) containing footage from the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table with the participation of Günter Verheugen and Viviane Reding can be found on the Commission website.

The first day began with a series of discusssions: "Improvement in Market Access through Advancement of Economic Partnership"; "EU Constitution and Future Perspective of Europe"; "Recent Developments in the Asian Economy, China in particular" and "Energy Issues” (Supply and Alternatives)". They were followed by the presentations and endorsement of the 2005 Joint Recommendations and Recommendations by Working Party; and the adoption of the BRT Mission Statement. The day concluded with a drinks reception and dinner. The second day began with the "Joint Session with the EU and Japanese Authorities". It was divided into three parts:

• Akihiko Yamamoto (METI Parliamentary Secretary for Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and Günter Verheugen, European Commission (EC) Vice-President gave speeches and then took questions from BRT Members. 
• Viviane Reding, EC Commissioner in charge of Information Society and Media and Hiroshi Matsui, Vice-Minister for Policy Coordination (International Affairs) (MIC) spoke next and also took questions.
• Itsunori Onodoera, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and Simon Fraser, Member of Peter Mandelson's Cabinet spoke and took questions.

The meeting concluded with a change in Chairman on the EU-side with Georges Jacobs succeeding Étienne Davignon who retired from the BRT. After the meeting, Messrs Kobayashi, Davignon and Jacobs held a press conference.

Various documents are available from the meeting:

• Meeting agenda
• Press Release
• Summary of Recommendations
• Recommendations - WP 1 - Trade and Investment
• Recommendations - WP 2 - Tax and Accounting
• Recommendations - WP 3 - Information & Communication Technologies
• Recommendations - WP 4 - WTO
• Recommendations - WP 5 - Life Sciences and Biotechnologies 
• Recommendations - WP 6 - Sustainable Development
• Mission Statement (adopted during the meeting)

Other documents relating to the work of the BRT in 2005:

• The transcript of Günter Verheugen's speech entitled, Further Improving EU-Japan Business Ties. He also referenced both the BRT's 2004 and 2005 annual meetings in a speech of 01/03/2005.

• The transcript of Viviane Reding's speech entitled Reinforcing the links between the EU and Japan in the ICT and media business.

• The 2006 Progress Reports from the European Commission and the Government of Japan, prepared in response to the BRT's 2005 Recommendations.

Submission of the Recommendations to the EU and Japanese Authorities

08/07/2005 - The BRT's 2005 set of Recommendations were submitted, by post, to Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan; British Prme Minister Tony Blair (for the EU Council Presidency); and to José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission.

The BRT and the 2005 EU-Japan Summit

02/05/2005 - The 14th EU-Japan Summit preceded the BRT's 2005 annual meeting. It took place in Luxembourg on 2nd May and was led by Jean-Claude Juncker, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, in his capacity as President of the European Council; Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan.

The Joint Press Statement issued after the Summit foresaw reacting to the BRT's recommendations:

Annex to the Joint Press Statement
Actions to be targeted by the next Japan-EU Summit
Objective 2: Strengthening the Economic and Trade Partnership Utilising the Dynamism of Globalisation for the Benefit of All
...
Respond to the recommendations of the EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table to be presented in July 2005.

Photographs from the 2005 BRT

© Damienne de Harlez / © European Community, 2005

Additional photographs can be found at the bottom of this page (click on each image to see an enlarged version). All those photos are © European Community, 2005