OTTAWA,
ON, Oct. 6, 2024 /CNW/ - The Prime Minister,
Justin Trudeau, today announced that
he will participate in the ASEAN Summit in Vientiane, Laos, and the 25th meeting of the
Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the U.S. air base in Ramstein,
Germany.
For almost half a century, Canada and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) have been partners in promoting peace, prosperity,
and progress. As we create good-paying jobs, fight climate change,
and grow our economies, Canada and
ASEAN stand united to make life better for people in the
Indo-Pacific region and beyond.
At the Summit, from October 10 to 11,
2024, Prime Minister Trudeau will highlight Canada and ASEAN's long-standing commitment
toward building a fairer, more prosperous future for people on both
sides of the Pacific. As work toward a Canada-ASEAN free trade
agreement continues, the Prime Minister will note progress on last
year's ASEAN-Canada Strategic Partnership and underscore the
importance of sustainable long-term growth that works for everyone,
empowers women and girls, and is anchored in the clean energy
transition.
ASEAN is one of the world's fastest growing economic regions.
That's why Canada is increasing
trade and investment with ASEAN and putting Canadians at the
forefront of this immense opportunity. As a group, ASEAN member
states represented Canada's fourth
largest merchandise trading partner in 2023, with increased
progress in agriculture, agrifood, and digital trade between our
peoples. Greater trade and investment mean more jobs, more
innovation, and more growth.
Building on Canada's
Indo-Pacific Strategy, Prime Minister Trudeau will also meet with
ASEAN partners at the ASEAN-Canada Special Summit to enhance
collaboration so we can effectively support prosperity and
stability throughout the region. He will emphasize Canada's constructive role in addressing new
and emerging challenges to peace and security, including malicious
cyber activity and threats from cybercrime.
This visit will mark the first official visit of a Canadian
Prime Minister to Laos. As
Canada and Laos celebrate 50 years of bilateral relations
this year, Prime Minister Trudeau will work to advance shared
interests and forge even stronger ties between our two
countries.
The Prime Minister will then participate in the 25th meeting of
the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the U.S. air base in Ramstein,
Germany, on October 12, 2024.
Hosted by the President of the United
States of America, Joe Biden,
leaders from the international community will reaffirm global
solidarity with Ukraine as it
defends itself against Russia's
unjustifiable war of aggression. Building on the progress made at
the NATO Summit in Washington,
D.C., United States of
America, earlier this year, Prime Minister Trudeau will
emphasize the importance of sustained international support for
Ukraine and a just and lasting
peace for Ukrainians.
The Prime Minister will highlight the importance of addressing
Ukraine's immediate defence and
security needs, including the provision of military equipment,
security assistance and training, and economic support. He will
also highlight Canada's
commitment to Ukraine's
long-term security, as evidenced by the Agreement on security
cooperation between Canada and
Ukraine, which was concluded
earlier this year.
Canada will continue to work
closely with its international partners to support Ukraine and Ukrainians as they continue to
fight for their freedom, independence, and democracy.
Quote
"Shared challenges require shared solutions – that's what the
ASEAN Summit and the Ukraine Defense Contact Group are all about.
Whether it's fighting climate change, creating good-paying jobs, or
strengthening democracy, Canada is
playing a leadership role in creating a better, safer, and fairer
future for people across the world."
— The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau,
Prime Minister of Canada
Quick Facts
- ASEAN is a regional intergovernmental organization comprising
10 member states. The objectives of ASEAN are to:
- Speed up economic growth, social progress, and cultural
development.
- Promote regional peace and stability and respect for justice
and the rule of law.
- Increase collaboration across a range of economic, social,
cultural, technical, scientific, and administrative spheres.
- Together, ASEAN as a regional bloc represents Canada's fourth-largest trading partner, with
over $38.8 billion in bilateral trade
in 2023.
- Last year, Canada and ASEAN
launched a strategic partnership for further collaboration in
strategic areas of mutual interest, including peace and security
and economic and socio-cultural co-operation.
- Canada became an ASEAN
dialogue partner in 1977 and is one of 11 partners with
this designation.
- ASEAN Dialogue Partners co-operate on political and security
issues, regional integration, economic interests, inter-faith
dialogue, transnational crime and counterterrorism, disaster risk
reduction, and other areas. Other Dialogue Partners include:
Australia, China, the European Union, India, Japan,
New Zealand, the Republic of
Korea, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
- Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy
advances and defends Canada's
interests by supporting a more secure, prosperous, inclusive, and
sustainable Indo-Pacific region while protecting Canada's national and economic security at
home and abroad.
- The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) was created by
the United States Secretary of
Defense in April 2022 to allow Allies
and partners to synchronize donations to Ukraine, consult and co-ordinate military
assistance, and build up the capabilities of the Armed Forces of
Ukraine (AFU). Convening monthly
at the ministerial level, the UDCG now brings together more than 50
countries.
- Since the launch of Operation UNIFIER, the Canadian Armed
Forces (CAF) has trained more than 43,000 members of the AFU.
Canada has announced the extension
of this mission until March 2026 so
the CAF can continue to respond to Ukraine's training needs.
- Since 2022, Canada has
committed over $19.5 billion in
multifaceted support to Ukraine.
This includes over $12.4 billion in
financial assistance, which has helped the Ukrainian government to
continue to operate, including by delivering essential government
services and pensions to Ukrainians. Other assistance includes over
$4.5 billion in military aid and
equipment donations, $358.2 million
in humanitarian assistance, $442
million in development assistance, and over $210 million in security and stabilization
programming.
- Experts estimate that since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February
2022, thousands of Ukrainian children have been deported,
forcibly transferred, or otherwise displaced from Ukraine to temporarily occupied territories
and to Russia, for the purpose of
erasing their Ukrainian identity. To date, hundreds of children
have been returned to Ukraine and
reunited with their families.
- Since 2014, Canada has imposed
sanctions on more than 3,000 individuals and entities in
Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine for their complicity in the violation
of Ukraine's sovereignty and
territorial integrity as well as gross and systematic human rights
violations. Many of these sanctions have been implemented in
co-ordination with Canada's
partners.
Associated Links
- Canada and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
- Canada-Laos relations
- Joint Leaders' Statement on ASEAN-Canada Strategic
Partnership
- Canada's Indo-Pacific
Strategy
- Canada's response to the
Russian invasion of Ukraine
- Prime Minister strengthens defence and security partnerships at
the NATO Summit
- Canada-Ukraine relations
- Canada-Germany relations
This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca
SOURCE Prime Minister's Office