ONLINE EVENT: Building Economic Resilience—Japan’s Evolving Approach to Engagement with Latin America

Latin America’s importance within the global economic and political architecture has grown immensely amid ongoing geopolitical turbulence, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and other threats to global supply chains. The region has historically played a critical role as a provider of food and wide-ranging other raw materials for much of the globe. Now, the prevalence of critical minerals has positioned the region as an essential node in industrial supply chains.

For decades, Japan has crafted partnerships in Latin America that are at least partially predicated on its abundant resources. But Japan’s interests in Latin America are increasingly broad-based, especially since the introduction of late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s transformative foreign policy “Juntos!” Japanese companies and government agencies are pursuing opportunities in a wider range of economic sectors, and in support of some of the region’s most pressing development objectives. The principles advanced in the recent G7 Hiroshima Summit—including on food security, achieving secure and resilient industrial supply chains, and safeguarding democratic values—also feature prominently in Japan’s current approach to Latin America and much of the rest of the Global South.

How is Japanese engagement with the region evolving to accommodate shifting global and regional conditions? What are the possibilities for enhanced Japan-Latin America cooperation on issues of shared concern, including food security, economic resilience, and the integrity of democratic institutions? In what sectors and countries has Japan’s involvement been most supportive of Latin America’s economic and political objectives to date, and can these examples be replicated in other parts of the region?

Our distinguished panelists will consider these and other questions during this ninth in a series of public meetings co-organized by the Japan Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (JALAC) and the Inter-American Dialogue, held on October 25, 2023 from 9:00 to 10:30 AM EDT. We invite participants to submit questions using the Q&A function in Zoom.

Follow the discussion on Twitter at #LACJapanUS and @The_Dialogue.