Courtesy Call on Mr. Shuji Kira, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, by Premiers from Three Western Provinces of Canada

May 20, 2010
Japanese

On May 20 (Thu), the Honourable Edward Stelmach, Premier of Alberta, Canada; the Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier of British Columbia, Canada; and the Honourable Brad Wall, Premier of Saskatchewan, Canada paid a courtesy call on Mr. Shuji Kira, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan. The three premiers were visiting Japan at the time.
The three premiers explained that Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan had agreed to the New West Partnership and were rationalizing out standards and regulations in order to strengthen cooperation on external economic relations. They also stated, placing importance on Japan, the three provinces hoped to further expand trade and investment relations with Japan in a unified manner based on the New West Partnership.
Mr. Shuji Kira, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, welcomed the visit to Japan from the three Premiers based on the New West Partnership. While describing the “New Growth Strategy” of Japan, Vice-Minister Kira stated that Canada, the country that contains these three provinces that are rich in energy and food resources, was an extremely important country to both Japan and the world. Based on this viewpoint, Vice-Minister Kira also mentioned the potential for cooperation between both countries in the fields of the economy and the environment and his expectation for further development in Japan-Canada relations through such cooperation.

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