OTTAWA, Oct 6 (Reuters) – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will travel to Ankara and Istanbul from October 21 to 23, his office said on Tuesday, in what will be the first dedicated bilateral visit to NATO ally Turkey by a Canadian leader.
The visit, which was first reported by Reuters, would mark Carney’s latest break with Canadian diplomatic convention as he seeks to reduce the country’s reliance on the United States, by far its biggest trading partner, after a collapse in trade talks in August.
Carney will meet with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara and work toward bolstering bilateral relations in areas including energy and mining, climate, and defence and security, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.
He will meet with Turkish business leaders and investors in Istanbul and tout Canada as an attractive destination for trade and investment.
“The Prime Minister will emphasize opportunities to expand that growing trade relationship in priority sectors, including energy, aerospace, advanced technologies, and mining and critical minerals,” Carney’s office said.
Carney has vowed to double Canada’s non-US trade over the next decade and has rushed to establish ties with a host of countries, including China and India, with which it had past strains.
Carney and Erdogan formally launched negotiations for a free-trade agreement at the NATO leaders’ summit in July. Turkey has agreed to join Canada’s Defence Security and Resilience Bank as one of 10 founding member nations of Carney’s multilateral “middle powers” bank.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil; editing by Michelle Nichols)
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