Japan and the European Union (EU) want to further strengthen their cooperation in the areas of economic security, trade and defense. For this purpose, both sides launched an “alliance for competitiveness” at a summit in Tokyo. “We will expand our cooperation in increasing the resilience of the supply chains and the reduction of strategic dependencies,” says a joint declaration of final. At the same time, the EU and Japan emphasized the importance of promoting free trade and multilateralism.
A closer cooperation against the background of a “complex global geopolitical environment, in particular the war of aging Russia against Ukraine, the serious challenges for a free and open indopacific space and other regional and international issues” has become even more important in the explanation. The EU and Japan are determined to “work with like -minded international partners in order to cope with these challenges”.