Series of JASIC Asia Government-Industry Meetings has been staged for the purpose of achieving international harmonization through the support of Asian countries in their efforts to establish effective regulations and improve their certification systems.

As the principal method of accomplishing this purpose, the Asian countries attending the G-I Meetings have agreed to strive for participation in the WP29 which is the world's only international forum specialized in the harmonization of automotive technical regulations.

Starting with the first JASIC Asia G-I Meeting held in Tokyo October 1998, a total of seven G-I Meetings have been staged in various Asian countries, with JASIC and the transport-related government offices of the host nations serving as co-organizers. A cumulative total of over 800 people from government offices in the transport, environment and automotive regulation fields and from the vehicle and parts manufacturing industries in 13 Asian economies took part in the past seven G-I Meetings.

At the first three JASIC Asia G-I Meetings, which comprised the First Series, discussions were focused on the delineation of suitable automotive regulations and certification system for each participating country to achieve the harmonization of regulations and the mutual recognition of certification with other nations.

As sum-up of the First Series, a joint statement entitled "Enhancement of Regulations and Certification Systems, Participation in the WP29, and Accession to the 1958 and 1998 Agreements" was issued.

For the Second Series covering the 4th to 6th JASIC Asia G-I Meetings, it was decided that discussions would be directed to the subject of realization and expansion of observer participation in WP29. Therefore, the members focused their dialogs on the identification of obstacles to WP29 participation and debated various methods of overcoming the obstacles.

As a result, at the 6th JASIC Asia G-I Meeting, the members issued the joint statement of the Second Series pertaining to the achievements of the past G-I Meetings, participation in the WP29/GRs and accession to the 1958 Agreement as future targets, determination of the course of future G-I Meetings, and cooperation with the automobile industry.

Starting off the Third Series, the latest (7th) JASIC Asia G-I Meeting was convened in October 2002 to discuss the importance of WP29 participation, the future course of harmonization activity for realizing the mutual recognition of certification, and the establishment of a certification system assuming accession to the 1958 Agreement. These discussions will be continued throughout the ongoing Third Series of the G-I Meetings.