Mr. Hirai Hirohide, Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Attends OECD Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organization of 38 developed countries—including the US and ones in Europe—that discusses all kinds of economic issues. This is the fourth meeting of theOECD, following the one in Ottawa, Canada in 1998, Seoul, South Korea in 2008, and Cancún, Mexico in 2016.

The main theme of the meeting, which was held in Gran Canaria, Spain, was "Driving long-term recovery and economic growth by building a trusted, sustainable, and inclusive digital future." Discussions were held on four sub-themes: Digital enablers of the global economy, building better societies through digital policy, putting people first in digital transformation, and harnessing the power of AI and emerging technologies. As representatives of Japan, Mr. Hirai Hirohide, Vice-Minister for International Affairs, Ms. Kunimitsu Ayano, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs and Communications, and Mr. Oshima Shuhei, Personal Information Protection Commissioner, took part in the meeting.

• 
• 

During the meeting, Vice-Minister Hirai was a panelist in a session on the theme of fostering trust in cross-border data flows. He spoke about topics including the importance of operationalising Data Free Flow with Trust (DFFT) by implementing the stepwise pragmatism-based strategy of (1) bringing together multi-stakeholders who actually use data (e.g., companies, research institutions), (2) focusing on real challenges to cross-border flows of data, and (3) building high-level political consensus on the prioritized policy area to provide the effective solutions to the challenges. He also called for proposals to establish“Institutional Arrangement for Partnership on DFFT” to provide the forum where multi-stakeholders work together to develop solutions to the various challenges in transferring the data across borders.

As a result of the meeting, the ministers adopted the Ministerial Declaration on a Trusted, Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future, which outlines issues and directions regarding Data Free Flow with Trust, reliable AI, and the development of next-generation infrastructure.

Related documents

• Ministerial Declaration on a Trusted, Sustainable and Inclusive Digital Future (Original)
• Official website of the OECD Digital Economy Ministerial Meeting

Division in Charge

Office of International Affairs, Policy Planning and Coordination Division, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau