On 7 April, State Secretary Lilian Tschan welcomed Hidenao Yanagi, Japan’s Ambassador to Berlin, to the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
Their talks, the first between Hidenao Yanagi, who has been Japan’s Ambassador to Germany since December 2020, and State Secretary Tschan, centered on the close cooperation between the two countries at both bilateral and multilateral levels. The focus was on Germany’s G7 presidency in 2022, in particular the goals and priorities of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs. "Policies to make structural change fair: protecting decent jobs in a green social market economy” is the theme.
Japan is an ally and an important partner with shared values. We appreciate our good bilateral relations very much. We appreciate this at the multilateral level as well, and in forums such as the G7 and G20.
The G7 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting will take place in Wolfsburg on 24 May. At the end of the year, the G7 presidency will pass from Germany to Japan.
State Secretary Tschan also emphasised the good bilateral relations at working level between the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. Tripartite meetings of the social partners and both countries’ ministries also take place on a regular basis. The next meeting is to be held in Japan in early 2023. State Secretary Tschan and Ambassador Yanagi also exchanged views on a number of labour market policy issues. These included the impact of the pandemic on the labour markets and the regulations on the short-time work allowance scheme with reduced working hours. Both sides spoke out in favour of strengthening relations further, underlining the importance of the two countries’ cooperation in a spirit of trust.