Decision

21 October 2021: Joint minutes of the first meeting of the Working Group on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment

Updated 3 May 2024

Videoconference, London and Tokyo, 21 October 2021.

The first meeting of the Working Group on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment (“the WG”) under the Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the UK) and Japan for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership (“the Agreement”) took place online on 21 October 2021.

The UK participants from Department for International Trade and the British Embassy in Tokyo and Japanese participants from Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Gender Equality Bureau of the Cabinet Office, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry had a fruitful exchange of views on matters related to Chapter 21 of the Agreement (Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment).

The enclosed meeting agenda was adopted (Annex).

The WG confirmed that it would work in accordance with the rules of procedure of the Joint Committee, which would apply mutatis mutandis.

Both sides informed each other of their respective women’s economic empowerment and gender equality policy developments and provided updates on the recent successes and challenges in this area. Japan confirmed that they would share with the UK additional details of the result of expansion of the scope of their policy on promoting the advancement of women in the workplace and outcomes from the use of public procurement to promote women’s empowerment. The UK confirmed that they would share with Japan their experience of establishing successful networks for women leaders in trade and providing trade and gender equality training to facilitate gender mainstreaming across government. Both sides confirmed that they would continue to exchange information regarding trade and women’s economic empowerment in future WG meetings.

Both sides shared concerns about the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic (and the policy responses to the pandemic) on women’s economic empowerment.

Both sides discussed ideas for practical implementation of Chapter 21 of the Agreement over the next year. Japan suggested a bilateral online event targeting women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs to be. UK stressed the importance of meaningful stakeholder engagement and expressed an interest in organising a roundtable discussion with women owned-businesses. Both sides affirmed their intention to discuss this further with the aim of organising an event for International Women’s Day 2022.

UK committed to undertaking further analysis on UK-Japan trade ahead of the next WG meeting to better understand the sectoral distribution of women in the workforce in relation to UK-Japan trade. The data will be shared with Japan ahead of the next WG meeting.

Both parties underlined the importance and their willingness to further cooperate for effective implementation of Chapter 21 of the Agreement. Japan will be the host of the next WG meeting. The date of the future WG meeting will be arranged via contact points.

Annex

The Agreement between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Japan for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership

First meeting of the Working Group on Trade and Women’s Economic Empowerment

(21 October 2021, videoconference London and Tokyo)

Agenda

1. Welcome and short opening remarks
2. Adoption of the Agenda
3. Understanding sharing on the Rules of Procedure
4. Background setting presentations by UK and Japan on current women’s economic empowerment and gender equality landscape
5. Discussion between parties on shared recognition and principles
6. Next steps: Calendar of next WG meeting and future steps
7. Closing remarks