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2017 brought many changes and a lot of new potential. This summer, the EU and Japan have paved the way towards a bilateral Free Trade/Economic Partnership Agreement, and a so-called Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA), which envisions institutionalizing EU-Japan cooperation in political and security-related subjects.

At the conference, we are going to explore the potential EU- Japan cooperation after the adoption of the above-mentioned SPA. Our main aim is to assess what kind of cooperation is already going on and how it could be intensified. With the participation of policymakers from both, the EU and Japan, the conference will seek to shed light on the question on how and in what way the EU-Japan SPA could increase the frequency and intensity of EU-Japan non-military security cooperation in Asia, Africa and elsewhere. What the actual added value is and even more importantly, are EU/European and Japanese policymakers really equipped with the mandate, instruments and political authority to adopt and conduct the (potentially) increased EU-Japan non-military security as envisioned in the SPA. Do Japan and the EU see the strategic importance of increasing cooperation under the present changes taking place at the global world order? Do they have the political will, resources and instruments to really intensify cooperation? If YES, how far can it go?