Within the framework of the State visit by the King and Queen of Spain to Japan, the two parties agreed to share information on economic policies, foster collaboration, including cooperation in third markets, and boost activities by those bodies that foster trade, investment and technological cooperation.
The approach in support of free trade guides the policies of the two countries, which will join forces in this area to tackle the protectionist challenges that have recently emerged on the international stage.
The two parties highlighted the Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Japan, which will foreseeably be signed in the next few months. The agreement will help step up relations between the two countries, which will also be boosted by the establishment of direct flights between Madrid and Tokyo and the creation of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Japan.
The meeting between the Spanish State Secretary for Trade with representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) unfolded along the same line of greater collaboration, at which it was decided to support joint operations between Spanish and Japanese companies in third markets, in particular in the region of Southeast Asia.
Marisa Poncela recalled that there are a large number of very competitive Spanish companies in different sectors - infrastructure, energy, waste management and water treatment, among others - with extensive international experience. Spain has various instruments available to support internationalisation: participation in projects through equity and quasi-equity (Cofides), credit (FIEM and CARI) and credit insurance (CESCE). In addition to the reinsurance agreement that CESCE already has with the Japanese entity NEXI, the Spanish State secretary raised the possibility of collaborating with JICA, which offers credit under concessionary terms.
She then announced that countries and sectors in which companies from the two countries are competitive have already been identified and where actions could be co-financed in parallel with JICA, but to do so companies must present suitable projects.
The State secretary also met with the Governor of the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC), Akira Kondok. The JBIC is the equivalent of the Spanish Official Credit Institute (Spanish acronym: ICO). The aim of this meeting is to boost collaboration in supporting projects for the export and import of Spanish companies in Japan.
They also agreed to collaborate in circulating official Spanish trade financing among Japanese non-residents provided that the agreement has a component for the export of Spanish goods and services and enhances the collaboration between JBIC and ICEX (Spanish Institute for Foreign Trade).
Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad