Australia-Japan Economic Dialogue Joint Statement

On Tuesday 1 November, Treasury hosted officials from Japan’s Ministry of Finance in Canberra, for the 16th Annual Japan Australia Economic Dialogue.

Economic Dialogue Joint Statement

1. The Treasury, led by Luke Yeaman, Deputy Secretary of Macroeconomic Group, and the Ministry of Finance (MOF) led by KANDA, Masato, Vice Minister of Finance for International Affairs, held the 16th Economic Dialogue on November 1st, 2022, in Canberra.
2. The strength of the institutional relationship between the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance is important to our shared economic foundation. Aiming at strengthening this foundation further, the Dialogue included discussions on the following topics.
3. The discussion noted many G20 Finance Ministers strong condemnation of Russia’s illegal, unjustified and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine and acknowledged the importance of working collaboratively to drive a strong, sustainable and resilient global economic recovery.
4. We exchanged views and analysis on current global and domestic economic challenges including energy security, rising inflation and global debt levels, and volatile currency and financial markets, as well as the approaches our governments are implementing to manage these issues and progress structural reforms.
5. We acknowledged mounting debt pressures on low and middle-income countries and the need to implement our governments’ shared commitments in G20 processes that encourage all creditor committees to enhance certainty and predictability for debtor countries, improve creditor coordination by swiftly implementing the Common Framework, as well as enhance transparency of debt.
6. We discussed our governments’ actions to achieve net zero, including new opportunities to leverage the complementarity of our economies for joint transition with innovative technology. We also exchanged views to further enhance collaboration on supporting developing countries, especially Pacific Island countries, for their energy transition, climate mitigation and adaptation priorities, including through strengthening disaster risk management and opportunities.
7. We exchanged updates on policy considerations of Central Bank Digital Currencies and opportunities to collaborate to support institutions such as the IMF to implement guidance and standards that promote transparency and preserve the stability and integrity of the international monetary and financial system.
8. On economic security, we had a dedicated roundtable discussion with relevant Australian government agencies to explore further areas of collaboration on issues such as enhancing supply chain resilience and resilience in the Pacific.
9. The next Economic Dialogue will be held in 2023 in Tokyo.