Seventeen times already. And weve always worked well together even at international conferences. And we have a long friendship with twenty twenty one marking one hundred sixty years of diplomatic relations for us its an incentive for us to work even more closely in an ever more disorderly world. For his part a warrant against rising protectionism saying germany and japan the worlds number three and four economies respectively had an increasingly Important Role in protecting multilateralism both countries face similar challenges a rapidly aging population and the need for improved digitalisation germany is japans biggest trade partner within the e. U. Some four hundred fifty German Companies are active in japan and the german chancellor is traveling with a business delegation eager to forge even more deals. Cleamons cool the director off trade policy at the German Chamber of industry and commerce in brussels told us about the significance of this its to japan. From a business perspectiv