On 13 April 2016, State Secretary Fahimi met with Japanese Ambassador Takeshi Yagi, who paid his first visit to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. The discussion focussed on cooperation between the two countries in bilateral and multilateral contexts as well as on the subjects of "future of work" and pay equity.
Ambassador Yagi underlined the importance of bilateral cooperation between Japan and Germany in the field of labour market and social policy. He affirmed Japan's interest in further close cooperation, emphasising above all the importance of the dialogue process "Work 4.0" and stressed that Germany had become an international role model on account of its systematic analysis of the impact of digitisation on employment. Ambassador Yagi also presented the new Japanese initiative "Equal Pay for Equal Work" aimed at ensuring higher wages for persons with precarious jobs and achieving more pay equity for women. He was interested in an exchange on these topics, too.
State Secretary Fahimi welcomed the cooperation between Germany and Japan, confirming that the close bilateral relations would be continued. Moreover, she announced that in the context of Germany's G20 Presidency in 2017, Germany intended to cooperate closely with Japan. She underlined the importance of the dialogue process "Work 4.0", in particular with regard to finding new answers to challenges arising in the fields of working time, co-determination and further training. She affirmed that in Germany, too, pay equity issues, including the gender pay gap, play an important role.