Minister Sajjan Attends Shangri-La Dialogue and Visits Japan 

June 4, 2019 — Ottawa — National Defence / Canadian Armed Forces

Canada recognizes that maintaining the peace, security, and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region requires close cooperation by all nations. As a Pacific nation, we are deeply committed to working with our allies and partners to address security and defence challenges together.

Defence Minister Harjit S. Sajjan today concluded a productive trip to Singapore and Japan. While in Singapore, he attended this year’s International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS) Asia Security Summit, commonly referred to as the “Shangri-La Dialogue,” which took place from May 31 to June 2, 2019. He also travelled to Tokyo, Japan, from June 3 to June 4, 2019, where he met with his counterpart, Takeshi Iwaya, the Minister of Defense of Japan and visited Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members deployed in the region.    

Since its establishment in 2002, the Shangri-La Dialogue has provided ministers, officials, and policymakers with a forum to discuss the region’s pressing defence and security issues, and explore solutions to address them. Minister Sajjan participated in a discussion with participants at the Southeast Asia Young Leaders Program, where he highlighted Canada’s commitment to youth engagement, diversity, and inclusion. 

While in Singapore, the Minister met with his counterparts from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Vietnam; he also met with the United States Secretary of the Navy and the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross. In discussions, he highlighted a number of key issues, including the importance of working together towards a common objective of a secure and stable Korean Peninsula.

Minister Sajjan’s successful trip to Tokyo demonstrates strengthened friendship and growing bilateral collaboration between Canada and Japan. During the meetings, the ministers marked the 90^th anniversary of Canada-Japan diplomatic relations, discussed their nations’ ongoing defence cooperation, and committed to further deepening defence relations. They also welcomed progress on the Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement (ACSA), which was signed last year at the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting and will come into force later this year.

While in Japan, Minister Sajjan also met with CAF members deployed on Operation NEON, Canada’s contribution to a multinational surveillance initiative to counter North Korea’s maritime sanctions evasion. Through this operation, Canada will periodically deploy CAF personnel and equipment to the region, over a two-year period, to conduct surveillance operations aimed at identifying apparent maritime sanctions evasion, in particular through ship-to-ship transfers, contrary to United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions.