Olaf Scholz, Germany's chancellor, left, and Fukio Kishida, Japan's prime minister, right, during a news conference at the prime minister's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday, March 18, 2023. Japan and Germany vowed to deepen cooperation on defense and climate protection and work more closely together to reduce one-sided dependencies in critical areas such as raw materials. - Bloomberg
TOKYO, March 18 (dpa): German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and several ministers met on Saturday in Tokyo and agreed to work together more closely during the first German-Japanese government consultations.
The talks are focusing on international cooperation, with Berlin looking to reduce its economic dependence on Chinese raw materials amid global supply chain tensions.
At the start of the talks, Kishida said this would take the already close relations between the two countries "to a new level."
Scholz also spoke of a "sign of very good relations."
"The intergovernmental consultations will further advance our strategic cooperation, and they are a very important contribution to giving this close cooperation a new boost that we want to achieve together," he said.
Last year Japan, which also imports raw materials on a large scale, specifically passed a law on economic security, which the German government sees as exemplary. A separate ministerial post has also been created for the key issue.
Berlin is trying to diversify and learn lessons from its former dependence on Moscow for gas supplies, which was hastily ended after the Kremlin began its invasion of Ukraine.
Scholz was accompanied by Economy Minister Robert Habeck, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, Finance Minister Christian Lindner, Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Transport Minister Volker Wissing.
Earlier, Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Yasutoshi Nishimura said Japan wants to strengthen economic cooperation with Germany.
"In view of the drastically changed international situation, strengthening strategic cooperation between our two countries, including for shaping the international order, is of great importance," Nishimura said at the opening of the bilateral consultations.
Alongside developing sources of raw materials, Habeck said climate-neutral energy supplies were a further area for closer cooperation.
"In view of the rapprochement between China and Russia and the division of the global economy, the association of Western countries is all the more important," Nishimura said.
Germany is Japan's most important trading partner in Europe, while Japan is Germany's second largest trading partner in Asia after China.
Scholz's talks with Kishida were also due to cover defence issues.
The German Armed Forces had already sent a warship and fighter jets to the Pacific region to strengthen cooperation with friendly forces there. It plans to participate in exercises again this year.
The chancellor is also accompanied by 11-person business delegation.
In April last year Scholz chose Japan as his first travel destination in the region. His predecessors Angela Merkel and Gerhard Schröder went to China first.- dpa
