News: The EU and Japan announce new Defense and Security Partnership agreement

On 1 November 2024, Japan and the European Union (EU) announced a security and defense partnership to bolster defense ties and also increase cybersecurity cooperation.

Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell signed the partnership agreement in Tokyo; the first security partnership that the EU has concluded with an Indo-Pacific country.

Relevant areas of cooperation for Digi Asia Pacific:

11. The EU and Japan will deepen exchanges on maritime security, aiming at promoting an open and rules-based maritime regional security architecture, including secure sea lines of communication and freedoms of navigation and overflight, in accordance with international law, in particular United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

15. The EU and Japan will deepen the existing Japan-EU Cyber Dialogue, including by enhancing regular exchanges on the cyber security threat landscape, respective approaches and practical cooperative efforts to coordinate diplomatic responses to malicious cyber activities, as well as by coordination and alignment of cyber capacity building efforts.

16. The EU and Japan will continue to coordinate and cooperate at multilateral, regional and bilateral levels, notably on the promotion of the UN framework for responsible State behaviour in cyberspace and the establishment of the UN Programme of Action (PoA) to this end, as well as on the development and implementation of cyber confidence building measures in the ASEAN Regional Forum.