The third EU-Canada Joint Ministerial Committee meeting will take place on 16 May 2022 in Brussels, marking the fifth anniversary since the provisional application of the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership Agreement in 2017. It will be co-chaired by the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada, Mélanie Joly, with the participation of foreign affairs ministers from the EU member states. The Joint Ministerial Committee, established under the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership Agreement, will review the state of bilateral relations and make recommendations to further deepen cooperation on areas of mutual interest in the year ahead.
The meeting takes place at critical juncture for Europe’s security and the agenda will include the joint response to Russia’s unprovoked and brutal war on Ukraine and its global ramifications. The Joint Ministerial Committee will also discuss bilateral security and defence cooperation and the EU-NATO strategic partnership as well as a number of other shared foreign policy priorities such as relations with China, the situation in Afghanistan, Latin America, the Sahel and the growing geostrategic importance of the Arctic.
Discussions with Canada – one of the EU’s closest and most like-minded partners – will also focus on furthering bilateral engagement in support of democracy, human rights and a rules-based multilateral order, and seek to reinforce cooperation to address today’s most pressing global challenges such as the sustainable recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, biodiversity, energy security and the advancement of a human-centric digital agenda.