One of the drawbacks of the EPA between the EU and Japan is why it was possible to conclude this agreement so quickly and without incident. In 2016, when the EU was about to sign its agreement with Canada, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), it had a nasty surprise because the Walloon region was opposed to the agreement and threatened to block it. Subsequently, with regard to the free trade agreement between the European Union and Singapore, the European Court of Justice decided that its dispute settlement mechanism for investments in shared powers between the EU and Member States was applicable, so that the agreement must be concluded jointly by the EU and its Member States. Since negotiations on an investment agreement have been slower, taking into account these two previous events, the issue of investment protection has been excluded from the EPA between the EU and Japan, so that the entry into force of the agreement cannot be delayed or totally prevented by a single Member State. Investment negotiations are continuing because the EU does not want to use the traditional investor-state dispute settlement system, but rather to create a permanent system of investment justice. The next meeting between EU and Japanese negotiators is scheduled for March 2019. Available at www.politico.eu/article/big-in-japan-how-the-eu-pulled-off-its-largest-trade-deal-negotiations-tokyo-phil-hogan-cecilia-malmstrom-agriculture/. Access 29 January 2018 As a joint EU agreement, the PPI will require ratification by the European Parliament as well as by the national and regional parliaments of EU member states. The most important thing is that the SDGs usher in an era of global cooperation between the EU and Japan in many areas, such as climate change and environmental protection, information society and cybercrime, space policy, economic development and politics, culture, science, technology and industrial cooperation, anti-corruption, money laundering, illicit drugs and terrorism or the issue of weapons of mass destruction and conventional weapons. Over the next few years, Brussels and Tokyo should use each of the clauses of this agreement to maximize their impact. The BSG also offers new opportunities for security cooperation between the EU and Japan, which could constitute an important geopolitical development. The success of the negotiations was also reinforced by the limited public opposition to the EPA, for example with regard to CETA.