Erdoğan: Türkiye and Canada agree to elevate ties to strategic partnership

President Erdoğan announced at a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney that Türkiye and Canada had agreed to elevate their relations to a strategic partnership, begin free trade agreement negotiations before the end of the year and aim to increase bilateral trade from approximately $3 billion to $5 billion and then $10 billion.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a joint press conference at the Presidential Complex with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was visiting Türkiye officially, following one-on-one and interdelegation meetings. Describing the visit as a historic turning point, Erdoğan said the most concrete outcome was the decision to elevate relations with Canada to a strategic partnership and announced that an action plan containing concrete steps had been adopted.

Erdoğan said it had been agreed that negotiations for a free trade agreement would begin before the end of the year. He also announced that Türkiye would host the next meeting of the Joint Economic and Trade Committee in 2027, with participation from the private sector. “We hope to increase our trade volume, which currently stands at around $3 billion, first to $5 billion and then to $10 billion,” Erdoğan said. Direct flights between the two countries will nearly double under the updated Air Transport Agreement, while Türk Eximbank and Export Development Canada will sign a memorandum of understanding tomorrow for joint projects in third countries.

Erdoğan said a Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Sector Partnerships had been signed in the field of defence. “We are two allies who understand the importance of defence industry cooperation,” he said, adding that they expected the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, established under Canada's leadership, to support this cooperation. He said the joint declaration adopted by the two countries' energy ministries pointed to significant potential, including nuclear energy, and that there was broad scope for cooperation ranging from mining to LNG and critical minerals.

Erdoğan and Carney at the joint press conference

Erdoğan said the talks also covered developments in Gaza, Ukraine and the Gulf. He said they considered Canada's sanctions measures against Israeli settlers, taken together with some of its allies, appropriate.

Carney recalled that this was the first visit to Türkiye by a Canadian prime minister, thanked Türkiye for the warm welcome and said they had honoured Atatürk at Anıtkabir earlier in the day. Saying that the old world order would not return, Carney described Türkiye as a dynamic partner with NATO's second-largest army and a rapidly developing defence industry. Carney said bilateral trade remained far below its potential and announced that the number of weekly flights between the two countries would increase from 12 to 21. “You can count on Canada as a partner,” he said. Carney concluded his remarks with Atatürk's words: “Peace at home, peace in the world.”

Meeting between the Türkiye and Canada delegations