APEC Summit 2015: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Strengthens Asian Ties in Meet
The APEC Summit 2015 in Manila, Philippines has so far impressed everyone with the 21 world leaders ready to talk business, economics and trade with each other, including recently seated Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau who arrived Tuesday.
Trudeau is reportedly eyeing on kicking off the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which circulates in 12 countries and 40 percent of the global economy, as he continues to attend the APEC Summit 2015 alongside 20 other world leaders including China and Indonesia.
Trudeau, according to the Canadian Press, expressed his desire to strengthen Canada's ties with Asia, especially in Indonesia. "I look forward to strengthening the already strong ties between Indonesia and Canada. There is much we can build on," Trudeau told Indonesian President Joko Widodo last Sunday, marking the first meeting he had with a world leader outside Canada.
Furthermore, Trudeau values the ties between Canada and Indonesia as it is the most populous Muslim country. "Working with a strong, moderate Muslim country to continue to promote the kind of values around the world that I think the world needs promoted," Trudeau was quoted saying.
Meanwhile, it has also been reported that Canada and China may gain stronger ties, especially since Trudeau's father, former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, was the one responsible for the 1970 decision to open diplomatic relations with China.
The APEC Summit 2015 also revealed that the two leaders, Trudeau and Chinese President Xi Jinping, were in great spirits upon their meeting, per the Canadian Press. However Fen Hampson, the head of the global security program at the Centre for International Governance and Innovation in Waterloo, Ontario., feels that it's Indonesia that will make a greater impact.
"It's not China, it's Indonesia which is going to be one of the powerhouses of economic growth in that part of the world," Hampson said. Meanwhile, the Canadian Prime Minister also revealed his plans on increasing the number of military trainers for the country's forces in Iraq.
Canada is "certainly committed to doing more in the way of training," Trudeau said as quoted by CTV News. Details are "something the defence minister is leaning into right now," he added.
"How many that will be, what form that will take, what kind of engagement we're going to have, those are things we're going to work out," Trudeau continued. "But I have reassured my allies and Canadians that yes, we will be doing more."
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com