Keizai Koho Center invited European political and economic journalists and experts to Tokyo, providing them with opportunities to exchange views with Japanese business executives, lawmakers, government officials, scholars, and other experts. The program aims to contribute to mutual understanding between Europe and Japan. Mr. John Gapper, Chief Business Columnist and Associate Editor of the Financial Times, Dr. Sebastien Jean, Director of Centre d’Etudes Prospectives et d’Informations Internationales (CEPII), Dr. Hubertus Bardt, Managing Director and Head of Research of the Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft Köln (Cologne Institute for Economic Research), Mr. Jean-Pierre Robin, Editor in Chief and Economic Columnist of Le Figaro and Ms. Mirja Fiedler, Editor for Director of Programming of Deutsche Welle (DW), Germany’s international broadcaster, participated in the program.

Visits to ANA Holdings, Asahi Group Holdings, Marubeni Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries were arranged to learn about their business strategies. They also met with officials of the Bank of Japan, Financial Services Agency, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Cabinet Office and JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization). They also met Professor Naoyuki Shinohara of the University of Tokyo. Topics of discussion included Brexit, the EPA between Japan and Europe and the Japanese economy.

On the last day of the program, the symposium “Prospects of Europe-Japan Relations: Brexit, EPA” was held at Keidanren Kaikan, Tokyo.