the year and, in the event that no such agreement could be secured, to aspire to agree in principle on the major elements as early as possible in the following year. The entire Japanese government, including the MLIT, has thus accelerated its efforts to facilitate the conclusion of an agreement at the earliest possible point in time.

Sixteen countries, including the countries of the ASEAN bloc, China, South Korea, and Australia, are participating in negotiations with respect to the RCEP. These negotiations began in May 2013 and eleven negotiation sessions have been held as of March 2016.

## (3) World Trade Organization (WTO)

Discussions among like-minded countries and regions, including Japan, have been undertaken with a view to enacting a new Trade in Services Agreement (TiSA) in order to further liberalize trade in service sectors. Negotiations began in June 2013.

## 2 Contributions to and the Strategic Use of International Organizations

## (1) G7 Transport Ministers' Meeting in Karuizawa, Nagano

In 2016, Japan will preside over the G7 Summit. In addition to hosting the Summit at Ise-Shima in May, we will be holding ten relevant ministers' meetings at different locations across the country.

The MLIT is slated to host a meeting of the G7 Transport Ministers in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, in September of the same year. At this meeting, discussions on developing and disseminating the latest technologies concerning automobiles and roads and basic strategies for dealing with the development and obsolescence of transportation infrastructure are expected to be undertaken based on discussions that took place at the meeting of the G7 Transport Ministers held in Germany in September 2015.

## (2) Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

APEC is a framework for economic cooperation through which activities to promote trade and investment liberalization, business facilitation, economic and technical cooperation, and other such objectives are carried out to promote the sustainable growth and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region. The MLIT is proactively involved in ministers' meetings and working groups that pertain to APEC's transportation and tourism sectors.

In the transportation sector, meetings of the transportation ministers to facilitate the flow of goods and people and support trade and investment within the given area are held. At the eighth APEC Transport Ministers' Meeting held in Tokyo in September 2013, the topic of enhancing connectivity through high-quality transportation within the APEC region in terms of basic themes was discussed. As proposed by Japan, the ministerial joint statement that was released at the time came to incorporate three concepts constituting the keys to the development of transportation in the APEC region: enhancement of connectivity, development of a transportation infrastructure based on the use of private funds, and deployment of high-quality transportation. At the ninth APEC Transport Ministers' Meeting held in the Philippines in October 2015, Japan presented a report on three initiatives that resulted from discussions that were held at the eighth APEC Transport Ministers' Meeting: (i) connectivity map; (ii) sharing of best practices for infrastructure investing, financing, and operations for which the experiences of member countries and regions are brought to bear; and (iii) high-quality transportation vision with a focus on convenience, safety, and environmental protection.

## (3) Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)

The MLIT is involved in various cooperative projects under the “ASEAN-Japan Transport Partnership,” a cooperation framework in the transport sector founded between Japan and ASEAN in 2003. The “ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Conference on Transport” is held every year to monitor the progress of current projects and to discuss new projects and future direction.

At the “13 ASEAN-Japan Ministerial Conference on Transport” held in Malaysia in November 2015, approval was granted for the ASEAN-Japan Transport Partnership Work Plan 2015–2016, a specific implementation plan for the ASEAN-Japan Transport Partnership, as well as for four new cooperation projects: (i) a new ASEAN-Japan environmental action plan in the transport sector, (ii) Joint Research on Road Technologies for ASEAN Cross-Border Corridors, (iii) cooperation with respect to maritime safety (VTS human resources development and cooperation project), and (iv) a new