The agreement, the signing of which was witnessed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London, came as the amount of economic benefit the UK received from the 2012 Games broke through the £13 billion ($22 billion/€16 billion) mark.

UK companies have already won £130 million ($220 million/€160,000) worth of contracts for the Brazil 2014 FIFA World Cup and the Rio 2016 Olympics and Paralympics, while more than 60 UK companies won contracts for Sochi 2014.

But the Tokyo Games are potentially worth millions more to the British economy, according to UK Trade and Investment.

The UK and Japan are expected to collaborate on areas such as security, policing and cyber security, increased English-language teaching and the Cultural Olympiad ahead of the two major sporting events to be held in Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe (centre) visited the London Olympic Park with former London 2012 chairman Sebastian Coe (left) and Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Hugh Robertson (right) ©AFP/Getty Images


"I am delighted that Japan has signalled that it wants to use UK expertise to help deliver both the Tokyo Olympics and Rugby World Cup," Britain's Trade and Investment Minister Lord Livingston said.

"The delivery of London 2012 on time and under budget has shown the world that the UK has a significant amount of expertise in staging large scale events.

"Businesses can get in touch with UK Trade and Investment, who can provide support and advice on the opportunities available."

More than 140,000 people in the UK are currently directly employed by some 1,300 Japanese companies, with tens of thousands more jobs in the supply chain, while bilateral trade between the two nations was worth £22.5 billion ($37.9 billion/€27.4 billion) in 2011.

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