Foreign Minister Maas arrived in Japan today for his second visit to that country. In addition to taking part in the G20 Foreign Ministers Meeting, the visit is intended to signal support for nuclear disarmament. Japan and Germany have been working even closer together during the last few years to tackle multilateral challenges. Together the two countries want to strengthen the rules-based order in cooperation with other like-minded countries.

Hiroshima – Remembering the past, shouldering responsibility for the future

Ahead of the G20 meeting in Nagoya, Foreign Minister Maas is first of all visiting Hiroshima. Together with Nagasaki, Hiroshima stands for the terrible suffering which the deployment of nuclear weapons inflicted on so many people. In Hiroshima, Foreign Minister Maas will remember the victims of the disaster, the 75th anniversary of which is coming up next year, and talk to survivors and school children.

Hiroshima, the place where an atomic bomb was used for the very first time in an armed conflict, bestows a responsibility for the present on us. In awareness of this responsibility, Germany and Japan are working together today to bring about a world without nuclear weapons.

Germany and Japan: Working together to advance nuclear disarmament

Germany and Japan are close partners in the endeavour to foster nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation. At the invitation of Japan, Foreign Minister Maas will therefore take part in Nagoya in a meeting of the Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative, a constellation of twelve non-nuclear weapon states which are conducting a dialogue with nuclear-weapon states in order to bring about practical progress in the sphere of nuclear disarmament.

What is more, the two countries both participate in the Stockholm Initiative, whose purpose is also to advance nuclear disarmament. Japan and Germany are also calling for the entry into force of the Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits nuclear weapon tests everywhere.

Close partnerships for a rules-based international order

Japan and Germany agree that close partnerships among like-minded countries are necessary to preserve and strengthen the rules-based international order. One important forum for the future of multilateral cooperation is the G20, an informal group that brings together the leading industrialised countries and emerging economies and whose Foreign Ministers are meeting in Nagoya this year. The consultations among the G20 Foreign Ministers will focus on the rules-based trade order, the link between security and development as well as regional cooperation with Africa. [Link G20-Artikel]

In addition, Foreign Minister Maas will meet his new Japanese counterpart, Toshimitsu Motegi, as well as other key partners, including Australian Foreign Minister Payne.