EOB meeting notes, Dec 17, 2002

EBC Meeting Minutes

EOB Meeting Notes

Tuesday, December 17, 2002; Chanel Office

10:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

GENERAL INFORMATION:

Distribution of additional articles from WP Launch
Distributed. Attention was drawn particularly to front-page photo of EBC Chairman and reference to the EBC report and to substantial high-quality article in the prestigious Le Monde newspaper. Note was also made of the long Nikkei Weekly article that included several accurate quotations from the committee chairmen comments.

White Paper Doorknock
R. Collasse expressed intention to take the EBC Report to Vice-Minister level officials of the various ministries and agencies in early 2003 together with the relevant committee chairmen and the EU Ambassador. Intention is to request the EC Delegation to use their influence and manpower to make the appointments. Work on this project unlikely to start before February.

General update from the secretariat on current activities
EBC Secretariat is still heavily engaged in post-WP-Launch activities:

Distribution of WPs to contacts in Japan (e.g. Japanese version was sent to two departments of METI electronically at their request for further distribution by METI) and overseas (e.g. OECD).

End of year accounting

Chamber invoices for Term 1 of 2003 to be sent out this week

Aiming to e-mail a newsletter to members by year-end

Preparing for confirmation of year 2003 membership intentions from all committee members.

Etc.

EC Conference in Brussels in late May (selected EBC member participation requested)
Secretariat visited again by EC Official, Mr. Fabrice Vareille, who is organizing an EC-funded conference in Brussels in late May to promote FDI in Japan and also ETP. Relevant information was distributed. European businessmen, especially former ETPs, will be requested to participate. Vareille expressed strong wish to have EBC Chairman present.

Update from Casey on committee activities
In relation to the distributed material, C. Sedgman explained that the EBC Animal Health Committee had sent several submissions jointly with the ACCJ to MAFF. The EBC Insurance Committee has held a joint press conference with the ACLI and the CLHIA and contributed to the production of a report. The EBC Food Committee has also submitted comments in response to a call from MHLW for comments on the review of food and sanitation regulations - preparation of the EBC documentation was coordinated and largely written by S. Sedgman.

2003 Meeting Dates (1st EOB meeting - Feb. 18; Council - Feb. 20)

EUJBDRT:

EUJBDRT-related comments from the Chairman

Meeting with new Japanese sherpas
R. Collasse met on Monday, December 16 with: 1) Mr. Noriyuki Yonemura (Senior VP of Fuji Xerox), who is the sherpa for Mr. Kobayashi (Co-Chair of the RT); 2) Mr. Tomohiro Maruyama (General Manager, Japan Tobacco), who is the sherpa of Mr. Honda (Co-Chair of Working party 1 - R. Collasse's counterpart); Mr. Hiroaki Taneoka, Managing Director, EU-Japan Centre for Industrial Cooperation. Mr. Numata of NEC, A. Murray and C. Sedgman also were present.

Possible timing of 2003 RT
G8 Summit probably will be held in France on June 1-3. Therefore the EU-Japan Summit will likely be held in Greece on June 4. Current suggestion for EUJBDRT is May 27/28 in Brussels, but these dates are subject to change. R.Collasse has a difficult schedule at that time, but will endeavour to manage commitments.

Progress of new membership and related deadline
R. Collasse would like commitments from new members by the end of February and requests that the relevant chambers follow-up as soon as possible. Content of working party 1 submission (EU submission prepared by EBC) to be reviewed early in 2003.

SPECIAL ITEMS:

Seminar with Nikkei:
Theme, Timing, Organising Committee
R. Collasse reaffirmed his wish to have a seminar with Nikkei and will meet with Mr. Maezawa on January 16 to discuss the feasibility and possible topics of interest to the Nikkei. Under the arrangement, Nikkei would pay all costs related to the event, while the EBC would be responsible for the work involved in mounting the seminar (program, speakers, participants, etc.).

CLEPA - 2003
As per the distributed e-mail, CLEPA has decided to discontinue its arrangement with the EBC for representation in Japan. Their American counterpart has withdrawn from Japan and Brussels and CLEPA has followed suit. This has financial implications for the EBC as we earned 2.7 million yen from CLEPA in 2001 and 2.13 million yen in 2002.

Pharmaceutical sector in 2003 - concrete figure to propose to EFPIA Chairman?
A meeting between R. Collasse and M. Wright of EFPIA is still to be arranged, but the feasibility of an EFPIA membership fee and the likely level will be discussed at the meeting when held.

FUNDING & FUND-RAISING ITEMS:

Year 2002 Revenue & Expenses (Actual figures to November end & predictions to December end)
A detailed spreadsheet was distributed showing actual revenue and expenditures to the end of November 2002 and predicted figures for the end of December. Total revenue is likely to be 51,894,615 yen and predicted expenditure (pessimistic case) will likely be 52,877,613 yen, indicating a deficit for the year. However, the year started with a carry-over of 2,803,092 yen from 2001, so that there will be funds in the bank. The same figures were viewed in a different (summarized) format and compared with the 2001 figures - operating costs were lower in 2002 relative to 2001, but costs related to personnel increased due to the need for more of C. Sedgman's time to cope with the EUJBDRT matters, the white paper and to work with committees. Additional help was needed in the office to cope with the increased level of activities.

Year 2003 Predicted Revenue & Expenses (Based on year 2002 December
end predictions)
Due to the loss of funds from CLEPA and the pharmaceutical committee combined with a probably natural attrition of committee members, basic revenue (chamber subsidies and member fees) in 2003 will not support the 2002 level of office help and 2002 level of EBC activities. A pessimistic prediction suggests a deficit of 2.8 million yen unless funds are raised, which means that the level of office assistance will be reduced.
Therefore, it is not feasible to expect to expect the same level of office support and this should be remembered when committing the EBC to activities in 2003, unless there is a concomitant fund-raising plan. It was suggested that sponsorship of events by individual companies is a good approach to fund activities.
In this respect, EOB members were also reminded that the white paper production, white paper launch, events like the Lamy breakfast have never ever been included in the basic EBC budget and have only been conducted if funds are raised in advance by sponsorship, sales, or attendance promises.

EOB Fund-raising Brainstorming:
There was insufficient time left in the meeting to discuss possible fund-raising activities. However, it was agreed that members may be likely to generously support a "special" event of some type that could be held at a time that does not conflict with the gala events held by some of the chambers. (Post-meeting comment from A. Murray: Perhaps we could hold a post-summer special social event at which awards are given to a key Japanese person and a key European who are regarded as having contributed significantly to Europe-Japan relations in the past year - a black-tie dinner with spouses, but with an "EBC" approach. Therefore, perhaps this could be discussed early in the agenda of the next EOB meeting in February)
* Feasibility of Annual EBC Gala Event (with Europe-Japan Business
Awards)?

Timing?

Organising Committee?

Awards Selection Committee?

Participation - Table-based (Chambers & Committees to Order Tables and pay for guests?

* Other Short-term Fund-raising Schemes

Taskforce:

Discussion on Taskforce
R. Collasse will organize a meeting in the early part of next year.