Prime Minister Pillai receives ambassadors from the USA, France and Germany

WHITEHORSE, YT – Prime Minister Pillai has participated in several meetings with foreign diplomats this week, focusing on Arctic security and resource cooperation.

French Ambassador to Canada Mr. Michel Miraillet, US Ambassador David Cohen and German Ambassador Sabine Sparwasser were all in Whitehorse on official missions, along with US Consul General Jim DeHart and French Consul General Nicolas Baudouin.

For Ambassador Miraillet and US Ambassador David Cohen, it was the first official visit to the Yukon. For German Ambassador Sabine Sparwasser, it is the second official visit to the Yukon.

In talks between the Prime Minister, Ambassador Cohen and Consul General DeHart, the conversation turned to strengthening relations with the State of Alaska. The Yukon's interest in the Port of Skagway was discussed, as was the resumption of the Little Gold Creek border crossing to pre-pandemic operations.

The talks with German Ambassador Sparwasser followed on from the discussions with the German Consul General during her last visit in 2022. Topics of the conversation included tourism, resource cooperation and research in the fields of climate and environmental sciences.

French Ambassador Miraillet met with Prime Minister Ranj Pillai for a confidential meeting about the dynamic Francophone community in the Yukon. The two discussed in detail the development of the Yukon's critical minerals sector and ways to decarbonise the mining industry. The technology available for this was also discussed and was of particular interest: Small modular reactors

Small modular reactors are small nuclear reactors that are portable and can be deployed in remote areas to generate large amounts of electricity on-site. The technology is still under development and is not yet commercially available. However, the Yukon Government's Cabinet Communications Team has confirmed that the Yukon Government is involved in discussions about the technology at the national level as a signatory to Canada's Small Modular Reactor Action Plan.

A decision on whether or not to introduce SMR technology in the Yukon has not yet been made, but all options are on the table for consideration as the territorial government seeks self-sufficiency and a clean energy economy.