Relations between Europe and Japan
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Assembly debate on 4 October 1982 (16th Sitting) (see Doc. 4955, report of the Committee on Economic Affairs and Development). Text adopted by the Assembly on 4 October 1982 (16th Sitting).
- Thesaurus
The Assembly,
1. Taking note of the report on economic and trade relations between Europe and Japan, presented by its Committee on Economic Affairs and Development
(Doc. 4955), of the report of its Political Affairs Committee on political relations with Japan
(Doc. 4959)and of the conclusions of the panel on the relations between Western Europe and Japan organised by the Council of Europe on 24 and 25 June 1982 in Strasbourg ;
3. Believing that greater understanding between Europe and Japan on the cultural level may contribute most positively to the resolution of current political and economic difficulties ;
4. Stressing the need for greater co-operation in a mutually beneficial way between Europe and Japan in the political, economic and cultural fields, as well as in the field of science and technology ;
5. Considering that Europe and Japan share the same faith in parliamentary democracy and free-trading principles and are today facing similar problems on the international scene ;
6. Welcoming the great political stability demonstrated by Japan, also in its successful resistance against terrorist attempts at destabilisation, and considering that all these important factors militate in favour of intensifying co-operation between Europe and Japan in the political and, where appropriate, defence fields, to be achieved also through an equitable sharing of benefits and burdens ;
7. Determined to associate the Japanese parliament with those activities in which there is a common interest ;
8. Concerned, however, at the growing trade deficit between the member states of the Council of Europe and Japan, which reached nearly 16 000 million dollars in 1981 ;
9. Noting that the Japanese commercial performance has developed thanks to an impressive innovation effort and an increase in productivity, in particular in a few important industrial export sectors, and thanks to the effective protection of the home market, in particular with regard to imported manufactured goods ;
10. Convinced that a persistent imbalance in trade has adverse effects on certain branches of activity in the member countries of the Council of Europe and noting that this situation has already led the European states, following the earlier example of the United States of America, to raise their differences with Japan in GATT and envisage protectionist measures ;
11. Aware that this imbalance in trade relations between Europe and Japan also calls for greater efforts on the part of the Council of Europe member states :
11.1 to intensify their structural adjustment efforts in those sectors that have been most seriously affected by changes in comparative advantage or shifts in demand ;
11.2 to develop trade promotion services for those sectors which have the best chances of penetrating the Japanese market ;
12. Convinced also that a better integration of the Japanese economy in international trade relations would be beneficial for both Europe and Japan, which have a number of obvious interests in common, particularly where energy is concerned, and that this integration should be based on a better understanding of each other's values, constraints and interests ;
13. Bearing in mind the urgent need for trade between Europe and Japan to become more balanced in order to reduce protectionist pressures and to avoid the danger of the revival of trade barriers ;
14. Expressing its satisfaction at the undertakings made both in the Council of OECD, at its meeting on 10 and 11 May 1982, and during the Versailles Summit of 4 and 5 June 1982 to promote an open, multilateral trading system ;
15. Believing that both the Council of Europe member states and Japan, as major partners in an interdependent world, have a common responsibility to improve the multilateral trading system by remedying its shortcomings and solving current problems in a spirit of mutual understanding and international solidarity ;
16. Noting, however, that Japan's official development assistance declined in 1981, in spite of the Japanese Government's commitment to increase such assistance, and recalling, in this connection, its
Resolution 747 (1981) on global prospects - human needs and the earth's resources, in particular its paragraph 21 inviting those developed countries, which have not yet done so, to commit themselves to increasing official development aid to the level of 0.7% of GNP by 1985 ;
17. Welcoming the new steps taken recently by the Japanese Government to make its home market more accessible, notably by the abolition or reduction of customs duty on a number of products, the relaxation of import controls and the establishment of a Trade Ombudsman's Office,
18. Expresses the wish that the Japanese Government continue its efforts to achieve more harmonious trade relations with the Council of Europe member states, in particular by :
18.1 promoting contacts between European and Japanese business men, so as to facilitate the access of foreign products to the Japanese market ;
18.2 making the Japanese market more accessible to foreign products, in particular manufactured products :
a by further reducing customs tariffs,
b by eliminating non-tariff barriers to trade, which in Japan are much more difficult to detect than in its principal industrial trading partners, and
c by encouraging imports above the present low levels ;
18.3 promoting a real opening up of their distribution to the benefit of European exporters ;
18.4 improving practices by which European banks feel discriminated against, in particular with regard to rediscount quota policies applied by the Bank of Japan ;
18.1 improving practices by which European banks feel discriminated against, in particular with regard to rediscount quota policies applied by the Bank of Japan ;
19. Calls on the governments of the member states of the Council of Europe and of Japan :
19.1 to encourage meetings between governments, members of parliament, business men and trade-unionists from Europe and Japan, so as to promote a mutual understanding of the interests of each of the partners ;
19.2 to promote a more balanced development of their economies, so as to create the conditions making it possible to end protective practices on the home market in the less competitive sectors ;
19.3 to abstain from adopting a protectionist policy by strictly applying the relevant international agreements and undertakings and, if necessary, exercising their rights under the international instruments to which they are parties, in particular GATT, to protect their international economic and trade interests ;
19.4 to adopt external trade policies in harmony with the long-term mutual interests of their trading partners rather than policies that seem to be merely reactions to immediate crisis situations ;
19.5 to promote industrial and scientific co-operation, in particular in advanced sectors, for example by the setting up of joint ventures ;
19.6 to associate Japan with the wide range of political and cultural co-operation in which there is a common interest.
