The foreign ministers of Japan and Canada have agreed to begin negotiations on signing an agreement for exchanging intelligence to boost security cooperation.
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and his Canadian counterpart, Melanie Joly, on Tuesday announced the two nations' "action plan" toward realizing a free and open Indo-Pacific at a joint press event held after their meeting in Tokyo, with the plan envisioning an agreement on the intel-sharing accord as soon as possible.
The move comes as the Group of Seven industrialized nations, including Japan and Canada, deepen their defense cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, where China has been ramping up military presence, while pressuring Russia over its invasion of Ukraine with sweeping economic sanctions.