1. Recalling the statements of the Asia-Europe Meeting of 18-19 October 2018, the EU-Japan Summit of 25 April 2019, and of the G20 Osaka Summit of 28-29 June 2019, the EU and Japan affirm their commitment to establishing a Connectivity Partnership based on sustainability as a shared value, quality infrastructure and their belief in the benefits of a level playing field.
2. The EU and Japan intend to work together on all dimensions of connectivity, bilaterally and multilaterally, including digital, transport, energy and people-to-people exchanges. While fully taking into account partners’ needs and demands and paying utmost attention to their fiscal capacity and debt-sustainability, the EU and Japan endeavour to ensure synergies and complementarity between their respective cooperation on connectivity and quality infrastructure with partner third countries and coordinate action, notably in the regions of the Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Indo-Pacific, as well as in Africa[1].
3. The EU and Japan envisage to work together to promote openness, transparency, inclusiveness and a level playing field for those concerned, including investors and businesses in connectivity. They also intend to promote free, open, rules-based, fair, non-discriminatory and predictable regional and international trade and investment, transparent procurement practices, the ensuring of debt sustainability and the high standards of economic, fiscal, financial, social and environmental sustainability. Related to this context, the EU and Japan welcome the endorsement of the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment and would apply and promote them. Both sides recall their commitment to the full and effective implementation of the Paris Agreement, as agreed in the Summit Statement of April 2019.
4. In view of their commitment to promoting rules-based connectivity globally, both sides intend to cooperate in international and regional bodies, including international fora such as G7, G20, the OECD, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank. They would also promote regulatory cooperation, with respect for the achievement of the EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement as a model of high standard rules in the 21st century for free, open, rules-based and fair trade and investment, and policy coordination for boosting innovative technology. Both sides underline the positive contribution of sustainable connectivity to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and recall their readiness to support partner countries in creating an environment that stimulates investment.
5. The EU and Japan recognise the importance of mobilizing levers and tools to spur private investment and intend to cooperate to facilitate financing of sustainable connectivity, including through possible joint projects, with the engagement of private sector. In this context, both sides welcome the MoU between the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is expected to enhance close collaboration between the two entities and promote investment responding to the demand for private sector finance in developing countries. Both sides intend to promote the existing cooperation arrangements and memorandums including such as those between the EIB and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), as well as between the EIB and the Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (NEXI) for this purpose. The EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation would be involved when appropriate.
6. The EU and Japan would cooperate on enhancing digital connectivity as a powerful enabler of inclusive growth and sustainable development, including through digital and data infrastructure as well as policy and regulatory frameworks, in developing countries. The EU and Japan emphasise that development of a digital economy depends on an open, free, stable, accessible, interoperable, reliable and secure cyberspace, and on data free flow with trust (DFFT – as declared by the G20 leaders in Osaka). Encouraged by their cooperation so far such as their mutual adequacy decisions adopted in January 2019, the EU and Japan intend to work together to further elaborate, promote and operationalise the concept of DFFT, including with a view to enhancing trust concerning data security and privacy, while respecting each other's respective regulatory framework. The EU and Japan also intend to work together to promote international policy discussions, inter alia, international rule-making on trade-related aspects of electronic commerce at the WTO, as envisaged in the Osaka Declaration on Digital Economy, under the 'Osaka Track'. The EU and Japan reconfirm their intention to continue promoting policies that boost innovation including in Artificial Intelligence, cloud, quantum computing and blockchain.
7. The EU and Japan continue to work together to enhance sustainable transport connectivity, through deeper cooperation and synergies of regulatory frameworks, interconnection of transport corridors and enhancement of safety and security of transport. The existing EU-Japan Transport Dialogue provides a framework for engaging in and cooperation on all modes of transport and horizontal issues.
8. Both sides would continue their cooperation in areas such as hydrogen and fuel cells, electricity markets regulation and the global market for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and support sustainable energy connectivity building on the existing EU-Japan energy dialogue. They intend to discuss sustainable energy infrastructure investments, with a view to strengthening regional and global energy markets and energy innovation in order to facilitate the transformation to low-carbon energy systems.
9. The EU and Japan would work together to expand international people-to-people exchanges between institutions in higher education and research sectors. In this context, both sides welcome the launch of the EU-Japan Joint Master Program, based on the joint statement at the first EU-Japan policy dialogue in education, culture and sport and initiatives taken under the EU-Japan Joint Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.
10. Whenever possible, cooperation in the framework of the Connectivity Partnership would take place through existing dialogues and cooperation frameworks, and in particular in the context of the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement and the Economic Partnership Agreement. Review of the progress, on a regular basis, would be tasked to the Joint Committee established under the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement. Furthermore, EU-Japan high-level Industrial, Trade and Economic Dialogue can function as a platform for strategic discussions under the Connectivity Partnership. The Connectivity Partnership does not intend to create any legally binding rights or obligations for either side under international or domestic law.

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Signed in Brussels on 27 September 2019 in two originals in the English language.

For the European Union,

Jean-Claude Juncker,
President of the European Commission

For Japan,

Abe Shinzō
Prime Minister

[1] Including through TICAD and the Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs to maximise results.