Erdoğan and Carney Elevate Turkish-Canadian Relations to Strategic Partnership Level

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced during a joint press conference the formal elevation of bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership, with the adoption of an action plan that includes concrete steps across multiple sectors.

Erdoğan stressed that current bilateral trade volume stands at approximately 3 billion dollars, with the goal of first raising it to 5 billion and then to 10 billion dollars. The two sides decided to begin free trade agreement negotiations before the end of this year, along with reactivating the joint economic and trade committee through a meeting to be held in 2027 with private sector participation.

Signed agreements included a memorandum of understanding in the field of defense partnerships. Erdoğan noted that a memorandum of understanding between Turkey's Export Bank and its Canadian counterpart focused on export development will be signed the following day, with the aim of facilitating joint projects in third countries. The update of the air transport agreement was also approved, with direct flights between the two countries expected to nearly double.

Erdoğan emphasized that energy, trade, transport, and defense industry sectors will witness new projects within the framework of the strategic partnership, pointing to broad cooperation opportunities extending from Africa and Latin America to Central Asia and the Far East. He added that the joint statement issued by the energy ministries points to serious potential in the fields of critical minerals, critical energy, and nuclear energy, stressing that the two countries share common orientations toward civil nuclear energy and defense industries as allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Erdoğan also referred to the Defense and Security Resilience Bank led by Canada and now being formed to provide financing for defense industries among allies, expressing his expectation that this bank will support defense cooperation between the two countries.