Abe saw Canada as “a country which shares the same values: democracy, stability, predictability, the rule of law,” Champagne said in a telephone interview Sunday.

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau, who had planned to attend Abe’s funeral, cancelled his trip Saturday to oversee the government response to hurricane damage inflicted on the Atlantic coast. Champagne will go in his place.

Champagne served as Canada’s trade minister from 2017, during Abe’s second stint as Japan’s prime minister, and became foreign minister in 2019. Reflecting on the negotiations toward the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, Champagne said Abe saw that Canada forming “closer ties with the Asia-Pacific nations … was key for our respective future.”

Champagne was visiting Japan in early July at the time of Abe’s assassination, meeting with industry leaders including executives of automakers and trading houses.

Gauging the response from such exchanges, he sees increased interest in green energy and mineral resources from Japanese companies.

Opportunities with Japan include a “closer relationship in terms of the battery ecosystem, in terms of manufacturing the car of the future, and certainly in building the microchips of the future together,” Champagne said.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and tensions in the Taiwan Strait are among the mounting geopolitical risks that have spurred calls for Canada to increase exports of liquefied natural gas.

“We can help each other with critical minerals,” Champagne said – and “the more strategic partnerships we form, the more stability and predictability there will be.”