Prime Minister Mark Carney delivers a speech during the Canada-UAE Investment Summit in Abu Dhabi. Mr. Carney called the United Arab Emirates’ pledge to invest billions in Canada a ‘vote of confidence in our economy.’Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney said investors in Canada and the United Arab Emirates are putting the finishing touches on an agreement exceeding $1-billion to expand the processing of critical minerals in this country.
He said more details will be provided soon and held up the nascent deal as a benefit of his trade mission to the Gulf region.
Speaking Friday to a business audience in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the UAE, the Prime Minister said the Emirates has also pledged to invest $70-billion in Canada. He called it a “powerful vote of confidence in our economy” and a major step forward in a new strategic partnership.
With its trillions of dollars in investment capital, the Gulf is one of several priority regions for Canada, along with Europe and Asia, as it seeks to diversify trade away from the increasingly unreliable U.S. under President Donald Trump. That has made attracting foreign investment in energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence and resources a high priority.
Prime Minister Mark Carney concluded a trip to the United Arab Emirates saying Canada had signed both a financial investment promotion and protection agreement and launched a process to start free trade talks. His trip comes as Carney pushes to expand Canada’s trade away from the United States.
The Canadian Press
Mr. Carney said the critical-minerals deal would boost the long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies and advanced manufacturing.
He said it reflects a deepening investment partnership between Canada and the United Arab Emirates.
Mr. Carney has set a goal of doubling non-U.S. exports in a decade, which means expanding annual sales overseas by $300-billion. And he has said that Canada will draw in $500-billion of new private-sector investment over five years.
Speaking in Abu Dhabi, he talked up shared values between the UAE and Canada, including both countries’ support for Palestinian aid.
And he highlighted his government’s support for major new infrastructure and resource projects in Canada including ports, mines, energy transportation corridors and critical minerals extraction.
“At our core, we are both trading nations: hubs for merchant traders for generations, and home to builders who challenge the scale of ambition,” the Prime Minister told the Canada-UAE Investment Business Summit, hosted by the Canada-UAE Business Council.
“We are both energy superpowers, who can lead in all aspects of the energy transition,” Mr. Carney said. “We can both lead the AI revolution through infrastructure, applications, and diffusion.”
He said Canada will support a delegation of Canadian pension funds, which he described as $2-trillion in capital, to visit the UAE in 2026 to hunt for new investment opportunities.
He said International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu will lead a Canadian business delegation to the UAE in January with companies from the energy, artificial intelligence, infrastructure and agriculture sectors.
Earlier this week, Mr. Carney pitched Canada to heavyweight investors in the United Arab Emirates and launched negotiations on a free-trade agreement with the Gulf-region financial hub.