Prime Minister Advances Indo-Pacific Engagement & Shared Priorities at G20 Summit

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, concluded his participation at the G20 Summit in Bali, Indonesia, where he worked with G20 leaders to drive progress on shared priorities, including ensuring energy and food security, improving global health, protecting the environment and fighting climate change, and building an economy that works for all Canadians. He also continued to condemn Russia’s brutal and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms and reiterated Canada’s steadfast support for the Ukrainian people.

Throughout the G20 Summit, the Prime Minister announced support to help make Canada an even more active and engaged partner in the Indo-Pacific, including by making investments to expand trade and investment to benefit Canadian businesses and their workers, promote security and stability in the region, increase pandemic resilience, and build a cleaner future for everyone.

At the Summit, Prime Minister Trudeau announced that Canada will invest $750 million to significantly expand FinDev Canada’s global efforts to meet the demand for infrastructure and enhance the reach and impact of Canada’s private sector activities. The additional capital will enable FinDev to increase its engagement in the Indo-Pacific and help respond to the region’s huge infrastructure needs, address existing funding gaps, and support broader regional progress toward ending poverty, fighting climate change, and building a future that works for everyone. This will help improve lives, connect people, spur economic growth, and contribute to a cleaner future while offering Canadian expertise and a development model that is accountable and leaves no one behind.

The Prime Minister made the announcement at a Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment event co-hosted by the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.

In Bali, Prime Minister Trudeau continued to push for ambitious action on climate change and the environment by urging countries to adopt a robust post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework at COP15 in Montréal next month to halt biodiversity loss and ensure a healthy future. He emphasized the importance of increasing efforts to protect the environment, fight climate change, and protect people’s livelihoods from its devastating effects. He announced that Canada will provide:

• $20 million to restore and protect mangroves in coastal communities in Indonesia, which will help prevent biodiversity loss and store carbon to fight climate change;
• $15 million to support Indonesia’s efforts to scale up its climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts in response to rising sea levels, environmental degradation, and biodiversity loss;
• $10 million for the Oceans for Prosperity initiative to continue improving the sustainable management of coral reef ecosystems to support local communities in Indonesia; and
• $3 million to help Indonesia restore coastal and marine ecosystems – essential carbon-storing ecosystems – to better adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

The Prime Minister also highlighted recent progress in advancing negotiations toward a Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which would create jobs and opportunities for people and businesses in both countries. This could include meaningful opportunities for Canadians across a broad range of sectors, including agriculture and agri-food, advanced manufacturing, clean tech, natural resources, and services. Canada and Indonesia launched negotiations in 2021 and held three rounds of negotiations in 2022.

At the Business 20 (B20) Summit, attended by private sector delegates from across the G20, Prime Minister Trudeau delivered a keynote address where he highlighted the potential emerging technologies have to cut pollution and grow the clean economy to benefit everyone. He also stressed the urgent need to accelerate the transition to clean energy and underlined that Canada is rapidly becoming the provider of clean energy and clean technologies that the world needs, particularly in critical minerals, batteries, and electric vehicles.

During the Summit, G7 Leaders and Indonesia issued a joint statement announcing a new Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) with the Government of Indonesia to accelerate its clean energy transition in an inclusive way. Canada will allocate $550 million to Indonesia from existing climate commitments under this new partnership. Canada is also contributing to the coal phase-out and the clean energy transition in Indonesia through its commitment of $1 billion to the Climate Investment Funds’ Accelerating Coal Transition Program, of which Indonesia was one of the first funding recipients.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts, particularly on people in low- and middle-income countries. To further protect global health and prevent future pandemics, Prime Minister Trudeau announced a new commitment of $50 million to the new Pandemic Fund – a key G20 initiative hosted by the World Bank – to help fill critical gaps in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response capabilities in low- and middle-income countries in key areas like investing in the health care workforce and strengthening disease surveillance. He also announced a $15 million allocation to manufacture mRNA vaccines and technologies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, building on $15 million in Canadian funding announced at the G20 Summit in 2021, and a $15 million allocation to increase the manufacturing of and equitable access to vaccines for low- and middle-income countries in the Americas.

At the G20, Prime Minister Trudeau announced an additional $500 million to provide military support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He also announced new sanctions on 23 members of the Russian justice and security sectors involved in gross and systematic human rights violations against Russian opposition leaders. Throughout his meetings with G20 and guest leaders, he reiterated the importance of continuing to support Ukraine and remaining united in the face of Russian aggression.

The Prime Minister also announced that Canada is extending the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) training mission of recruits of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the United Kingdom until the end of December 2023. This training began in August 2022 and is part of Operation UNIFIER.

Given the presence of Russia at the G20 table, the Prime Minister used his G20 interventions to condemn Putin’s attacks on Ukraine and the rules-based international order. He also stressed the consequences of Russia’s aggression on people, and food and energy security, particularly in the Global South. We continue to be steadfast in our support for Ukraine.

On November 16, in response to Russia’s latest attacks on Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure, NATO and G7 Leaders issued a joint statement reaffirming their steadfast support for Ukraine and their commitment to hold Russia accountable. Prime Minister Trudeau also held calls with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, as well as the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda.