Japan-Canada Relations
Japan-Canada Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
May 13, 2022
On May 12, commencing at 5:00 pm (local time; 0:00 am on May 13, Japan time) for 60 minutes, Mr. HAYASHI Yoshimasa, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, who is visiting Germany to attend the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, held a meeting with the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- At the outset, the two ministers stated that they were delighted to meet each other in person since last month. The two ministers welcomed the close coordination between Japan and Canada including at the G7 to address issues such as Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
- The two ministers exchanged their views on the situation in Ukraine and regional issues including North Korea and China.
- (1) The two ministers talked about the recent situation in Ukraine including Minister Joly’s visit to Ukraine, and confirmed that they will continue the close coordination at G7 including the cooperation between Japan and Canada. In addition, Minister Joly highly appreciated Japan’s proactive effort for reaching out to Asian countries.
- (2) The two ministers confirmed that they will continue their coordination on various issues related to China.
- (3) The two ministers confirmed that they will continue coordination in responding to North Korea, including on the nuclear and missile issues, such as a series of ballistic missile launches including the one on May 12, illicit ship-to-ship transfers and the abductions issue.
- The two ministers then confirmed that Japan and Canada will advance concrete and strong collaboration toward the realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific,” including the six priority areas of cooperation for maintaining the free and open world order based on the rule of law.