As an addition to our events calendar in February and March, we have secured the chance for members of the British Chamber of Commerce in Japan (BCCJ) to engage directly in small group settings with organisers of the forthcoming Business 20 (B20) and Women’s 20 (W20). These engagement groups are part of the G20 Summit, which will be held in Japan for the first time on 28 and 29 June in Osaka, and were established to make policy recommendations to the leaders.
Focusing on sustainable development and economic stability, the G20 comprises the G7 (the United States, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan), along with Russia, China, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, South Africa and the EU.
For 2019, the BCCJ sees the B20 and the W20 as groups in which our members can most actively contribute and help shape the agenda. Many B20 and W20 themes overlap with the BCCJ 5.0 project, launched at our shinnenkai on 17 January.
B20
The next B20 will be held on 14 and 15 March at the Keidanren Kaikan in Tokyo. This will be the tenth such gathering of “the business voice” of the G20 to promote collaboration between the private sector and policymakers. A national business federation from each of the G20 member countries has been selected to nominate the attendees for the summit. The UK’s partner to the Keidanren in 2019 is the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).
For BCCJ members keen to learn more about the purpose and content of this year’s B20, as well as to explore the work of the CBI, we will host an information session on the morning of 13 March led by CBI leadership visiting Tokyo.
W20
The W20 will be held on 23 and 24 March at the New Otani Tokyo in collaboration with the World Assembly for Women (WAW). This will be the fifth gathering of the W20, which promotes the social advancement and economic empowerment of women. This year, the group will focus on four main pillars:
- Labour equity
- Financial equity
- Digital equity
- Governance
We are very pleased to be hosting a related breakfast session on the morning of 19 February. This will be led by W20 Japan Co-Chair Haruno Yoshida, whom many of you will recognise as the dynamic former leader of BT Japan and former BCCJ Excom member.
Both these briefings are designed to offer senior-level networking opportunities to member firms not already involved with the actual B20 or W20. Our primary objective is to strengthen the UK business voice and provide a platform through which UK firms can engage with government and G20 stakeholders. In this way, we help to convey the message that the ’20s are inclusive and broadly relevant to UK public limited firms.
Elections
A reminder for members that our 2019–20 Excom nomination period will run from 18 February to 15 March, during which time the BCCJ office will be accepting completed nomination forms. The online election will take place from 27 March to 10 April. The election results will then be revealed at our Annual General Meeting, to be held this year on 24 April at the Roppongi Hills Club.
For more information on all the above, please check out the BCCJ website: www.bccjapan.com
