Carney in Dublin for European summit ahead of Asian trade talks
The prime minister will also hold talks with Greece and Cyprus, which have not ratified a trade deal with Europe.
DUBLIN · Prime Minister Mark Carney is attending a summit of European leaders in Dublin on Nov. 12. The European Political Community meeting is an informal gathering held roughly every six months to discuss geopolitical issues. Canada is the only non-European country at the table for the second time. Carney will also hold separate talks with the leaders of Greece and Cyprus. Those two European Union nations have not yet ratified a comprehensive trade agreement with Canada that was signed a decade ago. Since the last EPC summit, Carney and EU leaders have discussed Canada becoming an “associate member” of the bloc, though the title remains undefined. The prime minister will spend just one day in Ireland before flying overnight to Manila for a series of meetings in Asia.
In the Philippines, Carney will attend the Nov. 15–18 summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as a guest. Canada is poised to finalize negotiations on two trade deals during the visit, one with the entire ASEAN bloc and a separate bilateral agreement with the Philippines. The prime minister could sign one of the agreements while in Manila. He is scheduled to meet Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday and address ASEAN leaders on Sunday. Vina Nadjibulla, co-founder of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, said the trip represents a chance to build on recent international agreements. “We’re now entering a much more consequential phase of actually implementing and delivering on all of these agreements, and sustaining the momentum,” she said. Queen’s University professor Stéphanie Martel said the visit will help shape Canada’s four-year-old Indo-Pacific strategy.
The EPC summits began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and focus on strategic co-operation in politics, security and infrastructure. Carney previously attended the group’s meeting in Armenia last May. His current trip, which includes stops in four countries, comes amid high-stakes diplomacy involving the United States, China and Russia. The prime minister departed Ottawa after the Remembrance Day ceremony and is set to return on Nov. 19.
With files from The Canadian Press, iPolitics and Global News