According to experts, the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the V4 countries is not a coincidence. The new EU - Japan trade deal is mentioned in this regard. The document scraps the majority of fees and custom duties, making it easier for European companies to enter the Japanese market and vice versa. The head of the department of international trade at the Economic University Bratislava Peter Balaz explains: "This agreement reacts to what has been happening between the EU and the USA and between the USA and southeastern Asia. The US has cancelled all the original deals that were meant to stabilize and rationalize international trade and to liberalise it fully."
Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini sees in the co-operation with Japan a lot of opportunities for Slovakia: "It is not anymore only about production but Japanese companies are also moving higher added values activities to Slovakia, such as research and innovation."
The expert Peter Balaz, however, warns that despite the new EU-Japan trade deal, more intensive growth in trade cannot be expected: "As far as trade with Japan is concerned, the Slovak economy today is marginal. On the other hand, this is not the case for automotive technology or high tech exported from Slovakia abroad which enters the Japanese or Chinese market."
More than 60 Japanese companies run their business in Slovakia employing 13 thousand people. Nevertheless, Slovakia comes last in the V4 group when looking at the mutual economic co-operation with Japan. According to Peter Balaz, Slovakia should make the most of its research potential.
On Thursday, Japanese Foreign Press Secretary Takeshi Osuga confirmed that Slovakia would be visited by a Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) mission which will be looking for further opportunities for Japanese investors in our country. According to Osuga, Japan is looking forward to co-operating with Slovakia in the OECD framework as the topics of the Slovak OECD presidency and the Japanese G20 presidency share many parallels.
