Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to Lead First Dedicated Bilateral Trip to Turkey

From Oct. 21 to 23, Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Ankara and Istanbul, the first dedicated bilateral trip by a Canadian premier to Turkey. The mission is part of Carney’s broader strategy to diversify Canada’s trade away from its largest partner, the United States, after August’s trade-talk collapse. In Ankara, Carney will sit with President Tayyip Erdogan to discuss expanding cooperation in energy, mining, climate action and defence security.

In Istanbul, he will engage Turkish investors and highlight Canada as a prime destination for trade in energy, aerospace, advanced technologies, mining and critical minerals. The talks build on free-trade negotiations launched at the NATO leaders’ summit in July, and Turkey will become one of ten founding members of Canada’s multilateral Defence Security and Resilience Bank. Carney has pledged to double Canada’s non-U.S. trade over the next decade, seeking new partnerships with countries such as China and India.