BERLIN: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will visit Japan for three days from March 17, German government sources said Friday.

He will attend the first meeting of a forum of Japan-Germany intergovernmental talks that will bring together the leaders and several ministers from the two countries. The participants will likely exchange views on the Ukrainian and East Asian situations, ahead of the Group of Seven summit in the western Japan city of Hiroshima in May. They are also expected to discuss issues related to economic security.

When Scholz visited Japan in April last year, he agreed with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to launch the forum of intergovernmental talks.

In January this year, Kishida visited all G-7 partner nations except Germany. He said he wanted to create an opportunity to meet with Scholz as soon as possible.

Germany has been strengthening its involvement in the Indo-Pacific region, aiming to break its economic dependence on China and Russia. Also, Germany has been reinforcing its security cooperation with Japan, with a German warship visiting the Asian nation for the first time in 19 years in 2021 and German fighter jets being dispatched to Japan in 2022.

JIJI Press