‘Lecturing’ other countries is ‘ineffective,’ Carney says in Saudi Arabia

When it comes to questions of human rights, “lecturing” other countries is an “ineffective strategy,” Prime Minister Mark Carney said in Saudi Arabia on Thursday after a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“Lecturing countries from afar is an ineffective strategy. It’s satisfying, but it’s ineffective,” Carney said when asked if he was more concerned with business and the economy than he was with the “disagreements” Canada has with Saudi Arabia over human rights.

Carney met with bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Thursday as he seeks to deepen bilateral trade and investment after years of diplomatic strain. Canada aims to build a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia “across energy, critical minerals, defence, infrastructure, and investment,” Carney’s office said.

Carney’s trip — the first by a Canadian prime minister to the kingdom in 26 years — also saw him meet with business leaders in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea.

Bin Salman is who the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, in 2018, concluded had ordered the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.

“Engagement is not endorsement. So, engaging with the country doesn’t mean that we agree with everything that a country is doing,” Carney said, adding that Canada needed to find new strategic partnerships around the world so it doesn’t become “over-reliant” on the U.S.

“We are actively engaging with key partners around the world. We are calibrating those engagements depending on alignment and depending on our interests,” he said.

Carney’s visit follows high-profile ministerial visits to the country, first by International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu in January, followed by Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon in February, and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in March.

Canada, Saudi Arabia sign deals

Business leaders from both countries signed 13 agreements across “education, critical minerals and mining, energy, infrastructure, security, artificial intelligence,” Carney said.

“The private sector has kept the relationship alive — the commercial relationship alive. But we’ve barely scratched the potential of the relationship, and today is part of the next phase of building up,” Carney said Thursday at a signing ceremony at the Saudi Arabia-Canada Investment Forum.

Jeff Steiner, chair of the Canada-Saudi Arabia Business Council, told reporters in Jeddah that Carney’s visit to the kingdom is a “high-water mark” for relations between the two countries.

“We’re moving from reconciliation to seeing what opportunities there are when trust has been rebuilt, to build on that trust and to kind of grow prosperity and opportunities for both Canadians and for Saudis,” Steiner said.

Carney took part in a signing ceremony on Thursday between multiple Saudi and Canadian corporations and institutions, including Canadian engineering firms Hatch and AtkinsRéalis, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin.

Saudi state-owned agency Al-Arabiya reports that more than a dozen agreements and memorandums of agreement signed Thursday amount to $1 billion, most likely in U.S. dollars, though Carney’s office has not yet confirmed that amount.

Carney praised Saudi Arabia’s 2030 economic growth plan and drew parallels with Canada’s efforts to diversify trade and expand infrastructure and defence projects.

“When the world throws you a crisis — which it will — when it throws you an economic problem, when it throws you a geopolitical challenge, you keep focused on your long-term plan,” he said.

“The private sector has kept the relationship alive — the commercial relationship alive. But we’ve barely scratched the potential of the relationship, and today is part of the next phase of building up.”

He said a delegation of Canadian pension funds will return to Saudi Arabia “in a few months” to seek opportunities in the kingdom, in addition to recent ministerial visits.

He also praised Saudi Arabia’s rising influence in culture, sport and video games.

“The world is seeing this pillar of vibrant society, where the kingdom’s becoming a nexus of global commerce, culture and creativity,” Carney said.

The prime minister’s meetings Thursday included Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar al Khorayef, and Bob Wilt, the head of Saudi state-owned mining company Ma’aden.

What is the crown prince accused of?

The government of then-prime minister Justin Trudeau had sharply criticized the kingdom’s justice system and treatment of women, resulting in Saudi Arabia shuttering trade talks. Ambassadors were only restored in 2023.

The Washington Post reported that the CIA concluded that bin Salman had ordered Khashoggi’s killing after reviewing an array of evidence, including a taped phone call in which the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Khaled bin Salman — younger brother of the crown prince — told Khashoggi to go to the Saudi Consulate to pick up his wedding documents and assured him that he would be safe.

The Wall Street Journal later cited a U.S. official saying Khashoggi’s killing “would not and could not have happened” without bin Salman’s approval, and that the CIA’s conclusions on the Khashoggi killing were based on a thorough understanding of how Saudi Arabia operates.

In 2019, bin Salman told PBS that he bears responsibility for Khashoggi’s killing by Saudi operatives “because it happened under my watch.”

–with files from Canadian Press