May 10, 2022 Results of Visit to Europe by Mr. KANEKO, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications

From Thursday, April 28 through Thursday, May 5, 2022, Mr. KANEKO Yasushi, Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, visited the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Kingdom of Belgium, and the Swiss Confederation, and exchanged opinions and reached agreements to deepen cooperative relationships with the persons concerned.

An outline of the results of his visit to each country is as follows.

1. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Mr. Kaneko held talks with the Rt Hon Nadine Dorries, Secretary of State, and H.E. Ms. Lopez, Minister of State, at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS), and Professor Sir Ian Diamond, UK’s National Statistician, Chief Executive of the UK Statistics Authority.
With the Secretary of State and Minister of State at the DCMS, Mr. Kaneko reached an agreement to set up the UK-Japan Digital Group, as a senior-level cooperative framework of the government ministries and agencies of the two countries in the digital field, agreed to deepen bilateral cooperative relationships in specific initiatives to ensure diversity of suppliers on the 5G networks, and confirmed that Japan and the UK will take vigorous measures to achieve what was agreed upon on this occasion.
In the meeting between Mr. Kaneko and Sir Ian Diamond, it was agreed that Japan and UK will work together for future collaboration on official statistics.
In addition, Mr. Kaneko held meetings with people who had participated in the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme and people from Japanese companies operating in the United Kingdom, and heard information and exchanged views on their activities in that country.

2. European Union (EU); Kingdom of Belgium

Mr. Kaneko held talks with H.E. Ms. Margrethe Vestager, Executive Vice-President, and H.E. Mr. Thierry Breton, Commissioner, of the European Commission,^* and reached an agreement that the Governments of Japan and the EU will strongly push forward initiatives to deepen cooperative relationships between the Beyond 5G/6G promotion organizations of Japan and the EU. As a result of the talks, they agreed to further deepen bilateral cooperation by using conventional cooperative frameworks, such as the Japan-EU ICT Policy Dialogue.
Mr. Kaneko also held a meeting with people from Japanese companies operating in Belgium and exchanged views on issues in doing business on the European market.

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  The European Commission is the EU's executive organ for deciding the political and strategic directions of the EU.

3. Swiss Confederation

Mr. Kaneko held talks with H.E. Mr. Bernard Maissen, Director-General of the Federal Office of Communication (OFCOM), and Mr. METOKI Masahiko, Director-General of the International Bureau of the Universal Postal Union (UPU).
With OFCOM, Mr. Kaneko exchanged opinions on efforts in Internet governance and initiatives in the information and communications sector, confirmed common values and awareness on importance in the information and communications sectors of both countries, and agreed to continue holding discussions.
In the talks with Mr. Metoki, who assumed the office of the UPU Director-General in January 2022 and who is currently the only Japanese national serving as the head of a U.N. organization, Mr. Kaneko had a briefing on the recent initiatives carried out by the UPU, and confirmed that the Japanese government will continue to support the UPU's activities.