The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade, spoke Monday, July 20, 2020, with Yasutoshi Nishimura, Japan's Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy.
Building on the commitment made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzō Abe to strengthen the strategic partnership between their countries, both ministers highlighted the importance of deepening already strong bilateral commercial relations and advancing open, rules-based trade to create opportunities to grow our economies for the benefit of our people.
The ministers discussed the importance of international coordination in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support long-term economic recovery for the citizens of both countries. They agreed on the key role of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in helping mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on international trade for small businesses, including women entrepreneurs.
Minister Ng and Minister Nishimura emphasized the importance of promoting supply chain resilience. They reaffirmed their commitment to working together through the CPTPP to advance rules-based trade to provide stability and opportunities for Canadian and Japanese small businesses, entrepreneurs and workers-and they look forward to the third CPTPP Commission meeting scheduled for August 5, 2020.
