Germany and Japan agreed on Saturday to strengthen cooperation on financial safety within the aftermath of tensions over international provide chains and the financial affect of the struggle in Ukraine.
Within the first high-ministerial authorities consultations held between the 2 nations, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reached out to Tokyo to hunt to scale back Germany’s dependence on China for imports of uncooked supplies.
“The present challenges of our time make it clear: It is very important develop cooperation with shut companions and purchase new companions. We wish to cut back dependencies and improve the resilience of our economies.” the German chancellor stated in a tweet.
Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida stated they consider the settlement will enable each nations to diversify worth chains so as to have the ability to cut back financial dangers.
In a joint assertion, the 2 nations stated they’ll work on establishing “a authorized framework for bilateral protection and safety cooperation actions,” together with methods to guard vital infrastructures, commerce routes and to safe future provide of sustainable vitality.
Germany’s choice to prioritize consultations with Japan got here after the Asian nation put ahead an financial safety invoice final 12 months geared toward securing the uptake of know-how and bolstering vital provide chains.
Japan is Germany’s second-largest buying and selling associate in Asia after China, with a bilateral commerce quantity of €45.7 billion primarily based mostly on the import and export of equipment, automobiles, electronics and chemical merchandise.
The 2 leaders additionally exchanged views on the scenario in Ukraine, cooperation within the Indo-Pacific area and the G7 assembly in Hiroshima scheduled for Could.
