The EU and Japan will further strengthen their already very close relationship thanks to a new Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), negotiations on which were concluded on 25 April 2018. EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini and her counterpart, the Foreign Minister of Japan, Tarō Kōno, marked the ocasion in a bilateral meeting in the margins of the Second Brussels conference on Supporting the future of Syria and the region.

This agreement, together with the new Economic Partnership Agreement, will take the European Union's long-standing partnership with Japan to a new strategic level, triggering considerable benefits to citizens in both countries.

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The EU already cooperates with Japan in a wide range of areas. Once in force, the SPA will provide a legally binding framework for this cooperation giving to it strategic direction and coherence. The SPA covers a broad range of areas of mutual interest, which can help find solutions to the many similar challenges faced by the EU and Japan both regionally and globally (cyber-crime, disaster management, energy security, climate change, ageing population...).

It will help the EU and Japan to jointly promote peace, stability and prosperity globally, as well as an open international system and shared values like human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The SPA will facilitate aligning positions in multilateral organisations or to solve bilateral problems.

The EU and Japan will now complete their respective internal procedures before the signing of the Strategic Partnership Agreement together with the Economic Partnership Agreement.