Germany and Japan agreed on Saturday to strengthen cooperation on financial safety within the aftermath of tensions over world provide chains and the financial impression of the conflict in Ukraine.
In the primary 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 current challenges of our time make it clear: It is important to expand cooperation with close partners and acquire new partners. We want to reduce dependencies and increase 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 permit 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 legal framework for bilateral defense and security cooperation activities,” together with methods to guard crucial infrastructures, commerce routes and to safe future provide of sustainable vitality.
Germany’s resolution to prioritize consultations with Japan got here after the Asian nation put ahead an financial safety invoice final yr geared toward securing the uptake of know-how and bolstering crucial provide chains.
Japan is Germany’s second-largest buying and selling accomplice in Asia after China, with a bilateral commerce quantity of €45.7 billion primarily based mostly on the import and export of equipment, autos, electronics and chemical merchandise.
The two leaders additionally exchanged views on the scenario in Ukraine, cooperation within the Indo-Pacific area and the G7 assembly in Hiroshima scheduled for May.
