Ottawa (dpa) – Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has urged people not to focus too much on terminology amid the discussion of Canada’s potential associate membership of the European Union. “In my view, it’s not so much a question of terminology, but of ensuring that we can genuinely deepen our cooperation in key areas,” he said during a meeting with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand in Ottawa.
He said this included the CETA free trade agreement, cooperation between Canada and the EU on security and defence, and support for Ukraine. Anand stressed that the focus – especially ahead of the EU-Canada summit that will be taking place in the East Canadian city of Montreal in late October – was on “deepening relations” in various areas such as artificial intelligence and defence.
Wadephul and Anand signed a classified information agreement designed to make it easier for the two countries to share classified documents. They said this would have crucial advantages, especially for increased arms and defence cooperation, and added that the agreement was also an important basis for putting cooperation in the submarine sector into practice.
German naval shipbuilder TKMS is to supply Canada with up to twelve 212CD submarines. Germany and Norway developed this model for their joint use. An identical design is intended to reduce costs and facilitate cooperation that Canada will join.
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