(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will touch down in Japan on
Saturday with six of his ministers seeking closer economic ties, as
he considers reducing German dependence on Chinese raw materials
amid global supply chain tensions, trend reports with reference to reuters .
Scholz and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida are planning a
'government consultation' involving multiple cabinet members from
both countries to discuss ways to secure economic security.
'As democracies and as highly industrialized, export-oriented
economies, Japan and Germany face similar challenges in shaping the
digital and ecological transformation and strengthening the
resilience of their economy in difficult geopolitical times,'
Franziska Brantner, state secretary in Germany's economy ministry,
told Reuters.
Given Japan's passing of a bill on economic security, Berlin
hopes to learn its raw material strategy and take Tokyo's cue on
how to cut dependency on imports, a German government official said
of the visit.
In a move primarily focused at China, Japan's parliament passed
an economic security bill last year aimed at guarding technology
and reinforcing critical supply chains.
Trade between Germany and China rose to a record level last
year, making the Asian country Germany's most important trading
partner for the seventh year in a row despite political warnings in
Berlin about excessive dependence.
Goods worth around 298 billion euros were traded between the two
countries in 2022, up around 21% from a year before, according to
data from the German statistics office.
Japan is Germany's second largest trading partner in Asia behind
China, with volumes reaching about 46 billion euros in 2022.
Worried about Germany's dependence, the centre-left government
is now taking a tougher line towards Beijing than its centre-right
predecessor and is exploring ways to wean itself off China's
economy.
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