Joint Statement by Mark Carney and Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed on the visit of His Highness to Ottawa

Ottawa, Ontario: The Right Honourable Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada, received His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, accompanied by senior ministers, in Ottawa on 26-27 October, 2026, during His Highness's first official visit to Canada. Following the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2024, the visit marks a significant milestone in the evolution of Canada-UAE relations and reflects the shared ambition of both nations to elevate their bilateral relationship to a new level of strategic cooperation. Building on Prime Minister Mark Carney's visit to the United Arab Emirates in November 2025, both leaders reviewed progress across a broad range of priority areas, including trade and investment, defence and security, energy, advanced technology and artificial intelligence, infrastructure, telecommunications, space, food and water security, critical minerals, and international cooperation. In recognition of the strategic value of working together to address shared challenges and seize emerging opportunities, both nations agreed to elevate Canada-UAE relations to a Strategic Partnership. Reflecting both countries' commitment to international peace, security, economic openness, innovation, effective multilateralism, and sustainable development, the Strategic Partnership provides a framework to deepen cooperation across key priority areas, including diplomacy, trade and investment, energy and critical minerals, defence and security, advanced technologies and artificial intelligence, international assistance, education, and people-to-people ties. The Strategic Partnership will provide a mechanism for regular dialogue and coordination between both governments to support long-term collaboration and to identify new opportunities to advance mutual interests. Trade and economic relations The leaders highlighted the historic achievement of concluding negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in just 47 days, on July 24, 2026, and witnessed the signing of the agreement during the visit. They welcomed the continued growth of bilateral trade and economic relations, noting that bilateral merchandise trade reached approximately CAD $3.5 billion in 2025, representing significant growth over the previous year. The leaders underscored their shared commitment to advancing bilateral economic cooperation, strengthening supply chains, increasing investment flows, enhancing private-sector engagement, reducing unnecessary trade barriers, and improving access to each other's markets. They noted that the CEPA reflects a shared commitment to creating new opportunities for businesses, workers, investors, and entrepreneurs in both countries. They further underscored the importance of open, predictable, and rules-based trade and reaffirmed their intention to strengthen commercial ties in strategic sectors including transportation, logistics, infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, agriculture, life sciences, energy, and digital technologies. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to unlocking the full potential of the CEPA and committed to close cooperation to ensure respect for the right of each Party to regulate in areas of national importance, including national security, energy, and culture. Building on the expansion of the bilateral air transport agreement in 2025, the leaders underscored the importance of air connectivity to support people-to-people exchanges, tourism, trade, investment, and business links. The leaders acknowledged that the economic partnerships announced during the visit will further strengthen the Strategic Partnership and reaffirmed their commitment to supporting economic cooperation in key sectors and diversifying global supply chains. Investment cooperation Recognising the growing importance of bilateral investment as a pillar of the Strategic Partnership, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to advancing implementation of the Canada-UAE Investment Framework and the UAE’s commitment to facilitate up to CAD $70 billion in strategic investment opportunities in Canada. Building on the momentum generated by the inaugural Canada Investment Summit, the leaders welcomed enhanced cooperation between Canadian and Emirati investors, financial institutions, pension funds, development finance institutions, and sovereign wealth funds. Abu Dhabi Chamber signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Invest in Canada to strengthen business collaboration, facilitate two-way investment flows, identify new commercial opportunities, and support greater private-sector engagement between both countries. Both sides committed to strengthening cooperation among leading financial institutions, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, and investment platforms. In this context, Canada welcomed the planned investment engagement mission to be led by the Minister of Finance to the United Arab Emirates, accompanied