Brussels, Belgium. In the context of the IUC – Japan, the 5th Exchange Meeting of the EU and Japanese cities took place on 20 November, one day before the 3rd IUC city-to-city event in Brussels, Belgium.

The 5th Exchange Meeting of the EU and Japanese cities was opened with a welcome speech by Mr Rudolf Niessler, Principal Advisor for International Relations, DG-REGIO, European Commission. He emphasised the intense relationship between the EU and Japan, especially reinforced by the EU Japan strategic partnership agreement (SPA) as well as the economic partnership agreement (EPA), the largest trade deal the EU has ever signed to consolidate the trade relations. These agreements, both signed in 2019, will allow for deeper cooperation between the regions, which has become even more important in recent times, on order to tackle common challenges especially related to climate change, aging societies, etc.

A second opening speech was held by Mr Akira Kono, Ambassador, Deputy Head of Mission of Japan to the European Union. He also highlighted the importance of working together and seeking ways to tackle common problems and expressed his contentment that all IUC-Japan pairings had identified their common topics to work on.

During the keynote speech of Ms Giorgia Rambelli, IUC-Coordinating Unit, about “where we are in the IUC programme and what we are expected to do”; she presented the highlights of the city-to city cooperation in the different regions and outlined all themes that are covered by the IUC programme in general.

Another keynote speech was held by Ms Sandra Marin from the IUC Local Action Plan Task Force, on “general observation on the plans submitted from the viewpoint of UCAP objectives and methodologies”. In this context, Ms Marin also highlighted important aspects to be applied when preparing the UCAPs.

After these keynote speeches, the five pairings joined in 2017 presented their Urban Cooperation Action Plans, highlighting “main activities and key outputs” and “expected results-benefits”:

1. City of Frankfurt and City of Yokohama for “smart cities”: Visions for a carbon neutral future" | presentation (pdf)
2. City of Essen and City of Koriyama for “clean technology and renewable energy” | presentation (pdf)
3. City of Donostia-San Sebastian and City of Hirosaki for “buildings and site regeneration” | presentation (pdf)
4. City of Ancona and City of Ikoma for “clean energy, social inclusion, and healthy cities” | presentation (pdf)
5. City of Ioannina and City of Ichinomiya for “sustainable mobility and transport” | presentation (pdf)

Afterwards, the three pairings joined in 2018 reported about their cooperation activities focusing on the development of their local action plans, i.e. their theme of cooperation, key challenges, main activities and key outputs envisaged:

1. City of Bratislava and City of Tokorozawa for “climate change adaptation, urban nature-based solutions, and smart eco-city development.” | presentation (pdf)
2. Metropole of Grenoble-Alpes and City of Toyota for “smart city development” | presentation (pdf)
3. City of Umea and City of Kamakura for “smart cities, social inclusion and the integration of SDGs” | presentation (pdf)

Furthermore, the two pairings that joined in 2019 reported about their cooperation activities focusing on the development of their local action plans, i.e. their theme of cooperation, key challenges, main activities and key outputs envisaged:

1. City of Marseille and City of Kobe for “port regeneration and sustainable economic development” | presentation (pdf)
2. City of Turku and City of Nagano and Obuse Town for “integration of urban-rural circular economy in food-water-energy nexus” | presentation (pdf)

The presentations of the different city pairings were followed by a discussion, wrap-up and conclusion session, moderated by Prof. Hidefumi Imura, the Project Coordinator of the IUC-Japan, where also the IUC calendar until 2020 was outlined (presentation).

Prof. Hidefumi Imura expressed his satisfaction with the achievements of the IUC-Japan city pairings so far. He confirmed that all pairings conducted very good exchanges of ideas and concepts. The first cities that started their cooperation in 2017 are about to conclude their cooperation activities, but this should only mean an end to IUC but not their overall cooperation.

It was emphasized, that all cities are invited to continue their cooperation between IUC-Japan and to make use of all networking events and tools provided in this context.

Further information

• Agenda and contributions