On 9th and 10th July 2001, chief executives from over 40 leading EU and Japanese companies attended the third annual meeting of the "EU-Japan Business Dialogue Round Table", a business-driven forum for promoting mutual understanding and business co-operation. The Round Table, jointly chaired by Etienne Davignon, chairman of the Société Générale de Belgique, and Tadahiro Sekimoto, chairman of the board of NEC (Nippon Electric Company), provided an opportunity for high-level exchanges between EU and Japanese CEOs. For the European Commission, Romano Prodi, President, and Erkki Liikanen, Member in charge of Enterprise and the Information society, took part. The Japanese Government has been represented by Takayuki Kimura and by senior officials. Discussions at this round table focused on changes in the business environment, including the prospects for the European and Japanese economies in the wake of the recent economic slowdown. Participants addressed potential policy measures, within the context of an increasingly open inter-continental trade and business climate and the development of the information society, in particular electronic commerce. Particular attention has been devoted to the new World Trade Organisation (WTO) Round. The Conference ended with a declaration. Etienne Davignon and Tadahiro Sekimoto presented the results of the conference.