Foreign Minister visits the G7 in Japan and the Pacific Islands

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The Minister of Foreign Affairs will meet with G7 partners in Karuizawa, Japan this week. Discussions will focus on accelerating support for Ukraine, ensuring a free and open Pacific region and promoting the government’s priority of increasing economic growth. Visiting the Pacific Islands, Cleverly will listen and support regional priorities, particularly climate change.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly arrives in Japan today (Sunday April 16) for the G7 Foreign Ministers meeting ahead of a four-day visit to the Pacific Islands and New Zealand. The combined visit will focus on promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific as the region becomes the center of growing geopolitical competition.

At the three-day G7 conference (April 16-18) in Karuizawa, Cleverly will meet with G7 foreign ministers, including Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, to discuss closer ties around security and defense. He will also discuss the opportunities presented by the UK’s recent accession to the CPTPP trade agreement, which strengthens the UK’s global trading relationship with its partners in the region and will help drive growth across the country in line with the five government priorities.

Cleverly will also announce that the UK will join the US, Japan and Australia as a member of the Blue Dot Network, which will give a quality mark to infrastructure projects, promoting higher standards. It will operate globally, including in emerging markets, as a recognized symbol of quality and will therefore attract private sector investment and public support.

The gap between infrastructure needs and financing has widened and is expected to reach US$15 trillion by 2040. This initiative aims to begin closing this gap, promoting quality investment in projects across the world in desperate need of funding, from transport improvements to modernization. hospitals, schools and expanding access to reliable electricity.

Cleverly will then travel to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, before joining New Zealand Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta for a joint program in Samoa. They will then travel to Wellington together for engagements on Saturday.

During his visit to the Pacific Islands, Cleverly will announce financial support and the deployment of British expertise to the region, primarily for regional priorities such as climate change. This includes $4.5 million in new funding to connect communities in Papua New Guinea and across the Pacific to clean energy sources that provide an alternative to common but expensive and polluting generators.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said:

With increasing competition in the region, it is more important than ever to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific. This is essential for the UK, for our economy, our security and our values. Throughout my visit, I will build on the commitments made to our friends in the Pacific countries in their attempt to promote peace and prosperity in the region.

At the G7, foreign ministers will also discuss the need to maintain collective support for Ukraine and how international support from the UK and other G7 partners can be used in the most strategy to help Ukrainian forces continue their advance on the battlefield and secure a lasting peace.

The visit comes after the announcement that the UK will join regional trade bloc CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) as the first European member. The bloc is one of the largest free trade zones in the world, home to more than 500 million people and will account for 15% of global GDP once the UK joins. It is estimated that membership will boost the UK economy by $1.8 billion in the long term.

Joining the CPTPP will also support new jobs and create business opportunities by giving UK businesses greater access to countries that will be the gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region, which is expected to account for the majority of global growth in the future.

The Integrated Review update released in March 2023 outlined how the UK will prioritize the Indo-Pacific through a long-term strategic foundation, making the region a permanent pillar of the UK’s international policy -United.

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