Senior Research Fellow Maaike Okano-Heijmans spoke at the Virtual Panel Discussion, organised by the Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB) in cooperation with the European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN), the Stockholm School of Economics (SSE) and Freie Universität Berlin (FU). 

In July 2018, the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) was signed and in February 2019, the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) went into force. In times of increasing protectionism and challenges to free trade, the EU and Japan see the SPA and the EPA as key to support a rules-based international trade system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at the core. At the same time, the SPA and EPA underline shared fundamental values and principles such as the rule of law, a strong commitment to human rights and joint support for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs).

This panel discussion intends to evaluate the initial period since the EPA went into force and to analyse the progress of EU-Japan cooperation under the new rules as well as the effects of the SPA and EPA/Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on EU-Japan relations. It brings together academics, government officials and business representatives to discuss the EU-Japan cooperation in the areas of politics, business, trade, energy security and digitalization.

For further details please refer to the program.​​​​​​​