EU Japan Symposium

The EU-Japan Symposium is an annual meeting coordinated by the IAI and initially funded by the Office of the Japanese Prime Minister. The conference represent an opportunity for European and Japanese experts to discuss issues concerning cooperation between the European Union and Japan in the fields of security, economy and social policies. In March 2020, the conference focused on cooperation on the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development. The 2021 edition, the first carried out online, focused on the economic and military projection of Brussels and Tokyo in the Indo-Pacific and on the strategic repercussions for the two allies caused by the growing competition between China and the United States.

On 7 March 2025, IAI held the 2025 edition of its EU-Japan Symposium in Rome, entitled “A Changing Economic Security Environment: Examining Developments from Europe to Japan and the Indo-Pacific”. The symposium, conducted in English, brought together nine experts from Europe and Japan, who presented in three thematically organised panels.
The first panel, Economic Security in 2025 and Beyond, focused on the following themes: (i) European and Japanese perspectives on tensions in the Taiwan Strait; (ii) The EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and its implications for Japan; (iii) the threat of new protectionist policies; (iv) global challenges to maritime security. The panel was chaired by Riccardo Alcaro, Head of Research at IAI, and included presentations by Christopher W. Hughes (University of Warwick), Stephen Nagy (International Christian University) and Nicola Nymalm (University of Edinburgh).
The second panel, Energy Security and Supply Chains, covered the following issues: (i) Japan’s and Europe’s energy security adaptation to the war in Ukraine; (ii) The impact of the Gaza War and Houthi strikes in the Red Sea on Japan's and Europe's energy security; (iii) Geopolitical implications of the energy transition for Japan and Europe; (iv) Japan’s and Europe’s positions in restructured global supply chains. The panel was chaired by Francesca Maremonti, Researcher at IAI, and included presentations by Michal Meidan (Oxford Institute for Energy Studies), Kobayashi Amane and Sato Kana (Institute of Energy Economics, Japan).
The third panel, Economic Security and Disruptive Technologies, examined the following themes: (i) Geopolitical impact of Chinese and American leadership in AI technology for Japan and Europe; (ii) AI regulation and multilateral governance; (iii) Potential technological cooperation between Japan and Europe. The panel was chaired by Aurelio Insisa, Senior Researcher at IAI, and included presentations by Pia Hüsch (RUSI), Giulio Pugliese (King’s College London and European University Institute) and Suzuki Kazuto (University of Tokyo).
Following the symposium, IAI published two IAI Commentaries and one IAI Paper based on the presentations and discussions held during the event.