Why is Carney in Qatar?

Political commentator Scott Reid says the negotiations are about trade, investment, and leverage as Canada diversifies away from the United States.

Prime Minister Mark Carney has arrived in Qatar where he intends to elevate bilateral ties and drum up business investment in Canada.

Carney will spend two days in Qatar meeting with business and government leaders. His trip marks the first time a sitting Canadian prime minister has visited the country.

Speaking on background, a senior government official said the goal of the trip is to strengthen ties with what they described as an increasingly important ally, especially in the diplomatic and security sectors.

Qatar has taken a growing diplomatic presence in recent years, hosting negotiations between Israel and Hamas and helping with the reunification of Ukrainian children kidnapped by Russian soldiers. It has also attempted to take part in talks between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and between the Venezuela and Washington.

Human Rights Watch has raised concerns about Qatar citing slave labour, increasing surveillance and restrictions on free expression.

Why Qatar?

Since being elected last year, the prime minister has travelled extensively in an effort to diversify Canada’s trading partners and to draw in more foreign investment.

Canadian officials believe Qatar, whose natural gas wealth has bankrolled its state investments abroad, shares many similar values and interests in sectors including artificial intelligence, renewables and clean tech.

Speaking from Qatar, Finance Minister François- Philippe Champagne said the prime minister is trying to achieve a strategic partnership with Qatar that will result in more sustained engagement.

“We need partners. We need investors, and this is what this trip is all about,” Champagne said from Qatar.

Champagne, who met with his counterpart in Doha Saturday said the Qataris are “very interested” in deploying capital to Canada.

To help make that happen, he says he’s hopeful Canada will be able to sign a Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIPA) with Qatar to give confidence to investors their capital is secure and protected.

“I think it’s a good thing because what you do, you remove barriers, you increase predictability and security of investment and that’s needed in the world,” he said.

Carney’s office has said that during this visit he will be seeking more trade access in partnership in several areas, including artificial intelligence and energy. Ottawa is also hopeful the Qataris will eventually invest in some of Canada’s so-called major projects.

The Business Council of Canada’s Goldy Hyder says the pairing makes sense given the Qataris have a lot of investment dollars available and Canada needs more money to build.

“We are creating a framework to build, and we need investment above and beyond what’s available here in Canada,” Hyder said.

In 2024, Canada-Qatar trade was worth $325 million in 2024, with Canada’s major exports valued at $159 million.

What’s on the agenda?

Canadian officials say they want to make it easier for Canadians to invest in Qatar and vice versa. To help make that happen, Carney will be meeting with the Qatar Investment Agency. He will also take part in a luncheon at the bureaucratic headquarters in Qatar and will have a bilateral meeting with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Sources say the prime minister is expected to make a number of announcements relating to cultural exchanges, and information sharing and collaboration in the diplomatic and security sectors.

Carney’s visit comes one day after a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping that helped set the groundwork for a new, five-pillar strategic partnership between the two countries. That agreement committed Canada and China to working together in areas from finance, to agriculture, people-to-people ties and trade. It also included what Carney called a landmark trade arrangement that saw several key agricultural tariffs on Canadian products dropped in exchange for a reduction in tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

Hyder says the two visits represent “bookends” for the government’s diversification strategy.

“On the one hand, there is an export strategy. We want to sell more of what we have to the world, and one of the largest consumers in the world is China,” he said. “On the other hand, we need investment into our country so that we can build the trade enabling infrastructure that allows you to meet the export strategy that you are trying to achieve.”