Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit Ottawa next week to discuss trade and security, Justin Trudeau’s office announced Thursday.
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“I look forward to welcoming Prime Minister Kishida to Canada to further strengthen our collaboration and achieve results for the citizens of Canada and Japan,” Trudeau said in a statement.
Mr. Kishida’s visit to North American territory will begin on Monday. The meeting between Messrs. Trudeau and Kishida will be held on Thursday, January 12, followed by a meeting the next day, for the Japanese leader, with US President Joe Biden, in Washington.
In December, Japan unveiled a major new defense policy that put an end to the defense doctrine inherited from the end of the Second World War by approving for the first time a strategic plan aimed at countering the growing influence of the China in the Indo-Pacific region.
Not far from Canada’s Indo-Pacific strategy announced at the end of the year, the Japanese plan provides for massive investments in Defense. The two countries defend a vision of the Indo-Pacific region “free and open”, says Ottawa, echoing a plan formulated by the allies in October.
Host country of the G7 for the year 2023, Japan will host the meeting of the allies in Hiroshima on May 19, 20 and 21.
Mr. Kishida had previously visited Canada as Japan’s foreign minister from 2014 to 2017 under Shinzo Abe, a former prime minister who was assassinated last July.
