Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Tayyip Erdogan in Turkiye on Thursday, in the first bilateral visit by a Canadian leader, and the two NATO allies upgraded their relations to a "strategic partnership" as Ottawa seeks to expand trade partners and reduce reliance on the United States, Reuters reported.

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"We've planted the seeds of something new: a strategic partnership that will create new opportunities for our workers and businesses, and greater security and prosperity for both our peoples. With care and commitment, it will grow for generations to come," Carney said, speaking next to Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara. The partnership would have four pillars — trade and investment, defence and security, energy, and people-to-people ties — and include a three-year action plan.

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"Today, we have alleviated the long-standing Turkiye-Canada disconnect. Now, we are starting a new era between Turkiye and Canada," Erdogan said, praising Carney as a leader with "common-sense and acumen" on the world political stage. The two sides expect to raise their trade volume to $5 billion first and then to $10 billion — yaani 500 crore dollars rising to 1,000 crore dollars — from the current $3 billion. Negotiators would convene next month in Ankara to kick off the first round of free-trade talks, Carney said, adding that Export Development Canada and Turkiye's Eximbank would sign a new deal to help companies from both countries cooperate on projects in third nations.

At the ceremony, Canadian and Turkish ministers signed agreements on cooperation in energy, defence and air transport. A Turkish diplomatic source said the countries' energy ministers would work on areas such as nuclear energy, critical minerals and liquefied natural gas (LNG), and Turkiye has held talks with Canadian engineering firm AtkinsRealis — as well as South Korea's Korea Electric Power Corporation and China's State Power Investment Corporation — about potentially building its planned second and third nuclear power plants.

The visit is part of Carney's global trade blitz to buffer Canada from a trade war with the US, where President Donald Trump has applied sweeping tariffs and questioned the neighbouring country's sovereignty. In the last year, Canada has signed more than 20 trade deals as part of Carney's push to double non-US exports in the next decade — he flew to Beijing in January to reset fractured relations with China, striking a deal that slashed tariffs on electric vehicles and canola, and has described China as a "more predictable" trading partner than the US.

The trip is not without controversy: Turkiye's crackdown on the opposition since 2024 and arrests targeting the LGBTQ+ community have drawn criticism, and Carney has focused less on rights than his predecessors. "Carney will have to walk a very fine line in Turkiye between opening new economic possibilities for Canada while trying to maintain Canada's middle power role in fighting for equality," said Anna Agathangelou, a professor of politics at York University, as quoted by Reuters. Ankara says its judiciary is independent and denies that investigations are politically motivated.

Source: Prime Minister of Canada