Japan-Canada Summit Meeting (Summary)

On September 22nd, commencing at 4:55 p.m. local time, (05:55 a.m. on September 23rd, Japan time), for approximately 25 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, held a meeting with the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, while visiting New York, the United States, to attend the United Nations General Assembly. The overview of the meeting is as follows:

1. At the outset, Prime Minister Kishida expressed his appreciation for the letter from Prime Minister Trudeau upon his accouncement of resignation, and thanked him for his steadfast friendship to date. In response, Prime Minister Trudeau thanked for Prime Minister Kishida’s friendship during his term of office, and expressed that he would like to further enchance Japan-Canada relations in the future.

2. Prime Minister Kishida stated that he was deeply touched by Prime Ministe Trudeau’s visit to the Peace Memorial Museum in his private time in Hiroshima. Prime Minister Kishida mentioned that Japan would like to continue cooperating with Canada towards a world without nuclear weapons.

3. Prime Minister Kishida mentioned it is reassuring that Canada is strengthening her engagement with the Indo-Pacific region, including through establishing the Indo-Pacific Strategy and revising the Defense Policy, and acknowledged that specific activities have been making steady progress under the ‘Japan-Canada Action Plan for contributing to a free and open Indo-Pacific’. Prime Minster Kishida recognized Canada’s contribution as the chair of CPTPP this year and mentioned that Japan would like to cooperate with Canada towards preservation and enhancement of a free and fair economic order in the Indo-Pacific.

4. The two leaders reaffirmed that Ukraine, Middle East and East Asia including North Korea face a severe international situation. Prime Minister Kishida mentioned that Japan has high hopes for Canada as the G7 chair next year to lead the strong solidality of G7.