Carney talked trade with Gulf countries at Egypt peace summit

OTTAWA – Prime Minister Mark Carney used a hastily convened meeting with world leaders at U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace summit in Egypt on Monday to push for deeper trade ties with several countries in the Middle East.

A senior government official, speaking on background due to the sensitivity of diplomatic talks, told The Canadian Press the meeting led to both productive talks on postwar plans for Gaza and helpful discussions on deepening Canada’s economic and diplomatic relationships in the Persian Gulf region.

The source said when Trump was hours late for the gathering, world leaders, who were stuck in the same room without the standard diplomatic formalities and intermediaries, took part in discussions that were more frank and personal than the usual exchanges at these events.

As Canada looks to pivot from over-dependence on trade with the United States to more diverse trade ties with other nations, Europe has been Ottawa’s number 1 target. But the Gulf region, where Canada has had little presence in the past, is emerging as a close second, the official said.

On the margins of the trip, Carney spoke with top officials from Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, among others.

The official said these discussions were part of ongoing conversations about foreign investment, trade agreements and closer co-operation.

The source said Carney’s team scrambled to make it to the hastily organized summit and was forced to charter a private flight to Egypt, since Canadian military aircraft — the standard mode of travel for a prime minister — were all tied up elsewhere.

The Canadian journalists who normally attend every foreign trip made by the prime minister were left behind entirely, preventing them from keeping up with Carney on the ground or posing questions at the time.

That led the Parliamentary Press Gallery in Ottawa to release a statement criticizing the omission of journalists from the trip.

The prime minister stood alongside other world leaders in Egypt on Monday for the signing of a peace plan to end the more than two-year Israel-Hamas war. Carney described it as an “historic moment.”

“The Summit for Peace marked the start of a new chapter for Israelis, Palestinians and the world,” Carney said in a post on social media Tuesday.

Canada is looking at unlocking more humanitarian aid and expanding existing work on Palestinian security reform — part of Operation Proteus, Canada’s military task force in Jerusalem, which is helping to train the Palestinian Authority Security Forces.

While Ottawa is looking to assist a stabilization task force, it’s not likely to put any troops on the ground in a peacekeeping role because Indonesia has already committed up to 20,000.

As Carney was in Egypt, Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon was kicking off a three-day trip to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in a bid to attract investment in Canadian AI.

After the trip concluded on Wednesday, his office said in a press release that Solomon signed a memorandum of understanding with the UAE, which includes a framework for investments by the two countries in areas including digital infrastructure and AI adoption. 

Solomon also issued a joint statement with Qatar’s communications minister, looking for areas where the two countries can collaborate, including artificial intelligence, high-performance computing and investment opportunities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2025.