The Week of 17-20 April will see representatives from the European Commission's Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CNECT) travel to Japan to participate in a number of events that will enable the European Union to deepen its discussions with key counterparts in Japan on a number of important digital topics.

The 7^th ICT Strategies Workshop will begin on 17 April with a Government-to-Government strategies workshop with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) and the Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry (METI). Following on from the Dialogues in October last year, a number of expert level meetings and discussions have been taking place between the European Commission and Japan on topics such as the digital economy, platforms, 5G, cyber security and other areas. The workshop on 17 April will allow both sides to take stock of these expert level discussions, as well as review other policy areas related to internet governance, and platforms.

On the 18^th of April, the second day of the Workshop will be dedicated to industry-government discussions of ICT. This workshop continues to grow in size and importance, with companies using it to highlight technology developments as well as discuss relevant topics with government.  Discussions will focus on ICT policies in the EU and Japan, 5G/IoT and automated driving; intellectual property policies; AI and robotics; electronic authentication; future networks; platforms; and the data economy, including on personal data. The workshop has already attracted a very high level of interest with Japanese companies represented by Keidanren, and European companies in Japan represented by the European Business Council and Digital Europe.

In addition to the above, DG CNECT representatives will join the Industrial Policy Dialogue on 19 April, and will also participate and present the Digital Single Market at the EU-Japan Business Round Table on 20 April.