As the country currently representing the European Union, Sweden hopes that the coming decade will see the Japan-EU relationship broaden into the political arena, based on the solid economic ties that have been developed between the two countries, according to Swedish Ambassador Krister Kumlin.
On Jan. 1, Sweden took its first presidency of the European Council, the decision-making body of the 15-member European Union. During its presidency, Sweden expects Japan and the EU to finalize an action plan that lists concrete measures for cooperation over the next 10 years, designated as the "Decade of Japan-Europe Cooperation in the 21st Century."
"The EU and Japan have been close in the economic field. However, at a political level, we have not developed a sense of cooperation. A basic idea for this action plan is to increase political cooperation," said Kumlin, 62, who has been the country's top envoy to Japan since 1997.