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 eight 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 900 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 eight 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 in order to accomplish the goal stipulated in the previously-issued joint statement. 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. At the same time, they decided on the theme of the Third Series, which is "Realization of ECE Regulations Adoption and WP29 Participation."

As the 2nd meeting of the Third Series, the latest (8th) JASIC Asia G-I Meeting was convened in October 2003. The participants discussed issues along the theme of the Third Series and obtained good results. More specifically, (1) the discussion allowed the participants to develop their understanding of the 1958 Agreement and several countries stated their commitments to accession to the Agreement; (2) the importance of WP29 participation was confirmed and it was decided to invite parties involved in organization of WP29 to the next G-I Meeting to promote awareness; and (3) it was agreed to continue holding "expert meetings" to support the activities of G-I Meetings in the future.