Good news for Canada . . .
The last ministerial meeting before the G20 in Osaka, Japan on June 28 ended with good news for Canada. Ottawa signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) with Japan this weekend to advance co-operation on clean energy, energy efficiency, coal and gas, accelerating action on climate change in multilateral fora, plus co-operating on carbon capture utilization and storage technologies.
Strengthening a strong relationship . . .
The agreements advance Canada’s strategic partnership with Japan, now one of our strongest allies across a broad range of priorities, not least defending the liberal international order. The MOUs also pave the way for Canada’s leadership to advance global energy transitions through additional multilateral channels beyond the Paris Agreement.
A positive amid a sea of negatives . . .
This is especially good news after weeks of disappointing back and forth between Canada and China that ended last Thursday with China’s official announcement that President Xi will not meet with Prime Minister Trudeau during the G20 Summit. Canada was pushing hard for a meeting in an attempt to break the current deadlock in which two Canadians in China are charged with crimes related to national security, another has had a drug trafficking sentence increased to the death penalty, and Canadian agricultural exports to the Middle Kingdom have all but ground to a halt.
READ MORE
- Government of Canada: Canada and Japan announce clean energy cooperation at G20
- IRENA: Opportunities to accelerate national energy transitions
- CBC News: Beijing snubs Trudeau’s request to talk
