Canada PM to visit Turkiye this month

MONTREAL: Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Turkiye this month, his office confirmed Tuesday, in what will be the first-ever bilateral visit by a Canadian leader to the NATO ally.

Carney’s October 21-23 trip will include talks in Ankara with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and meetings with business leaders in Istanbul.

Carney has worked to expand Canada’s economic opportunities overseas to curb economic dependence on the United States.

In July, he made the first trip to Saudi Arabia by a Canadian prime minister in a quarter century.

He has also traveled to India and China, seeking to repair ties with Asian powers that fractured during the tenure of his predecessor, Justin Trudeau.

Carney called Turkiye “an important NATO ally and G20 partner, with enormous potential for greater economic cooperation.”

“We are deepening our partnership to build greater certainty, security, and prosperity for both our peoples,” he said in a statement.