UK/Japan Action Agenda: Special Partnership around the World
2 September 1996
Japan and the United Kingdom approach the twenty-first century as partners with shared global interests and perspectives. Japan lies at the heart of Britain's policy towards the Asia/Pacific region. The United Kingdom is the main pillar of Japan's relations with Europe. As mature industrialised democracies, both countries are committed to the promotion of peace and stability throughout the world, and to the promotion of prosperity through an open multilateral trading system. Both countries furthermore share and seek to promote the values of democracy, freedom and basic human rights, contributing towards the progress of mankind. Their joint activities include not only traditional diplomacy and government-to-government contacts, but also much broader fields including culture, education, and youth and grass-roots exchanges.
In December 1995, the Foreign Ministers of Japan and the United Kingdom endorsed a UK/Japan Action Agenda proposing in concrete terms ways to develop cooperation. At their bilateral talks held in Tokyo on 2 September 1996, Foreign Minister Ikeda and Foreign Secretary Rifkind, building on the cooperation achieved since December 1995, announced a new "Action Agenda for a Special Partnership" in the run-up to the 21st century. This new Action Agenda includes the promotion of global peace (cooperation on security and political issues) and prosperity (cooperation on economic issues), and promoting Asia-Europe regional cooperation; it is also designed to deepen and enrich their bilateral relations into the next century. This new Agenda will be continuously reviewed and expanded.
The key points of this new UK/Japan Action Agenda are as follows:
I. Global Cooperation
(i) Contribution to International Peace and Security
(ii) Contribution to the Prosperity of the International Community
(iii) Contribution to Strengthening Relations between Asia and Europe
I. Global Cooperation
(i) Contribution to International Peace and Security
A. Bosnia
- As members of the PIC Steering Board, Japan and the United Kingdom will continue to work closely together for reconstruction, reconciliation and the return of refugees and for the establishment of new institutions in Bosnia after the elections on 14 September.
- The two governments have already decided to co-finance a power transmission lines project in Bosnia and are seeking to identify other projects and areas in which they can collaborate.
B. Peacekeeping/Peacebuilding
- The two governments will intensify their efforts to cooperate in peacekeeping training and to develop more effective instruments for preventive diplomacy.
- The MFA and the FCO will organise a jointly sponsored symposium- High-level Symposium on Conflict in Africa: road to nation-building in the post-conflict period - on 9/10 September 1996 in Tokyo. The symposium will be co-chaired by Ambassador Nobuo Matsunaga and Sir David Hannay.
- Representatives of the MoD and the FCO will be taking part in a seminar on peacekeeping being organised by the National Institute for Defence Studies in Tokyo in September 1996.
- Japanese personnel will participate in PKO map exercises at Camberley in November 1996.
- Participation by Japanese SDF officers in a peacekeeping training course at Warminster in 1997 is under consideration.
C. United Nations Reform
- The British Government will continue to give strong support for Japanese permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
- The two governments will intensify collaboration to bring about reform of the United Nations system, including financial reform, reform of economic, social and development programmes and reform of the Security Council.
D. Terrorism
- Both governments will encourage closer international cooperation to combat terrorism.
E. Non-proliferation and Arms Control
- The two governments will work for the earliest possible conclusion of the CTBT. They will continue to seek universal adherence to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to support the full implementation of the principles and objectives for Nuclear Non-Proliferation and Disarmament agreed at the Non-Proliferation Treaty Review and Extension Conference. The two governments emphasise the importance of bringing the Chemical Weapons Convention into force at the earliest possible date. They will cooperate to strengthen multilateral mechanisms to counter the threat of biological weapons, including the establishment of an effective verification mechanism, and will cooperate to encourage the fullest possible participation in the United Nations Register of Conventional Arms Transfers, the establishment of which was originally a UK-Japanese initiative.
- The two governments will increase cooperation on proliferation concerns, including export control policies.
F. North Korean Nuclear Weapon Development
- The two governments welcome the efforts being made within the "Agreed Framework" of 21 October 1994 in reorienting North Korea's nuclear programme with a view to making it consistent with North Korea's obligations under the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
- Both Governments support the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation (KEDO) set up under the Framework Agreement and have contributed towards its success so far.
- They will continue to consult closely and to cooperate over future EU participation in and support for KEDO.
(ii) Contribution to the Prosperity of the International Community
A. Open Multilateral Trading System
- As two of the world's leading trading nations, Japan and the United Kingdom, bearing in mind the United Kingdom's obligations as a member of the EU, will continue to work closely together to strengthen the open multilateral trading system, particularly in the lead up to the first WTO Ministerial Conference in Singapore in December 1996. Both governments regard this as a significant opportunity to review progress on the implementation of the Uruguay Round agreement and to set in place a new comprehensive work programme for the WTO. Both governments will work closely to achieve further liberalization and to build a consensus for WTO to address trade and investment, and trade and competition policy. Both governments are committed to work together to secure successful conclusions to negotiations within the respectively agreed timetables on financial services, basic telecommunications and maritime transport. They also will seek significant progress in the work on trade and the environment, and an examination in the WTO of the consistency of regional trade agreements with the multilateral trading system.
- The two governments recognise the important regional and global role of China. Both support China's accession to the WTO on the right terms, and will continue to work closely together towards this end.
B. Aid cooperation
- The two governments will examine more systematically the scope for joint or parallel aid projects, mainly in African countries such as South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia, and foster close contacts at the field level.
- The two Foreign Ministers announced that the United Kingdom and Japan have decided to collaborate in projects to provide assistance for the medical sector in Kyrgyzstan. A joint UK/Japanese mission will visit Kyrgyzstan later this month.
- The two Foreign Ministers welcomed the positive result of Japan's project formulation study mission on education in South Africa in July and August. The mission consulted with South African officials and the British Development Division Southern Africa to seek possible cooperation in South Africa.
- The British Government supports Japan's initiative to hold the second meeting of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD II) planned for 1998. In preparation for this Conference, British aid experts have taken part in Regional Workshops in Zimbabwe and the Ivory Coast, and a senior British representative attended the High-level Seminar on African Development.
- In the run-up to the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in the UK in 1997, both governments will explore the scope for closer cooperation on the developing countries and areas in the Commonwealth.
- The two governments intend to cooperate in implementing the Development Strategy put forward by the OECD-DAC and welcomed at the G7 summit in Lyon.
C. Environmental and health issues
- The two governments will continue to cooperate in multilateral fora on issues such as environmental protection, AIDS etc.
- The British Government will support the Japanese Government's efforts to secure a successful outcome to the third session of the Conference of the Parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change to be held in Japan in 1997, including agreement by developed country parties to set new objectives post-2000.
(iii) Contribution to Strengthening Relations between Asia and Europe
A. ASEM
- The United Kingdom is hosting the second Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in London in the first half of 1998. Japan will be one of the Asian coordinators. Both governments will therefore cooperate closely in the run-up to ASEM II.
- The United Kingdom and Japan are committed to the successful integration of business into ASEM. They have decided to work together for the greater involvement of the private sector for trade and investment promotion between Europe and Asia.
B. Regional security organisations
- As a permanent member of the UN Security Council with long-standing ties to East Asia, the United Kingdom has strong security interests in the Asia/Pacific region. The Japanese Government recognises the importance of the United Kingdom's wish for national participation in the ASEAN Regional Forum, and will take up this issue formally in the ARF process.
- The British Government recognises the important contribution Japan can make to stability in Europe, including Bosnia and Ukraine, and supports Japan's wish to be fully involved in appropriate European security fora. From the outset Britain was a strong supporter of Japan's observer status in the OSCE.
C. Intellectual exchanges
- Both governments will encourage closer contacts between Japanese and British think-thanks and the strengthening of intellectual exchanges between Asia and Europe, including the role of the Council for Asia-Europe Cooperation within the ASEM framework. (Note: the IISS and the Japan Centre for International Exchange are the European and Asian secretariats for the Council for Asia-Europe Cooperation).
II. Bilateral Cooperation
A. Culture and education
- Mr. Rifkind announced that a "British Festival" will take place in Japan in 1998.
- The Japanese Government is planning to hold a Japanese Festival in Britain in 2001.
- Both governments will cooperate together to ensure the success of the respective festivals.
- The two governments welcome the recent rapid increase in the number of British participants in the JET programme, and will support their alumni activities.
- The two governments will continue to promote educational exchanges between the two countries.
- Mr. Ikeda announced that a Japanese language centre will be opened in London in this financial year.
B. "Action Japan" campaign
- The Japanese Government welcomes the fact that the United Kingdom was the first European country to encourage its companies to take a positive approach to trade and investment in Japan and that this positive approach will continue.
- The British Government hopes that British exports to Japan will continue to expand. The Duke of Kent will visit Japan in November to support the Action Japan campaign.
- The Japanese authorities and JETRO will continue to support the seminars, taskforce meetings and trade missions organised to support the Action Japan campaign. A second Senior Trade Adviser from JETRO will be seconded to the DTI in September 1996.
C. Third country commercial collaboration
- Both governments will continue to encourage commercial collaboration in third markets where British and Japanese companies often have complementary strengths. The cooperation programme on trade insurance initiated by ECGD and MITI last October has helped to facilitate this.
- The British Government welcomed the opportunity for the July mission to Indonesia of 28 British companies to promote collaboration with Japanese companies in that market.
- An electronics seminar will be held in Singapore in October to introduce British electronics components suppliers to Japanese manufacturing plants in South East Asia.
D. Science and technology
- The British Government welcomes continuing Japanese investment in R&D facilities in the United Kingdom.
- The two governments will continue to give priority to science and technology cooperation. There are already over 150 collaborative joint research projects underway. The two governments will continue their efforts to encourage further collaborative projects and the exchange of young scientists.
- There are plans to mount a major British science exhibition in Tokyo in connection with the British Festival in 1998.
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