Carney’s Saudi Arabia trip a ‘high-water mark’ for relations: Business leader

JEDDAH — Prime Minister Mark Carney met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, as he seeks to deepen bilateral trade and investment after years of diplomatic strain.

Carney’s trip — the first to the country by a Canadian prime minister in 26 years — also saw him meet with business leaders in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea.

“The private sector has kept the relationship alive — the commercial relationship alive. But we’ve barely scratched the potential of the relationship, and today is part of the next phase of building up,” Carney said Thursday at a signing ceremony at the Saudi Arabia-Canada Investment Forum.

Jeff Steiner, chair of the Canada-Saudi Arabia Business Council, told reporters in Jeddah that Carney’s visit to the kingdom is a “high-water mark” for relations between the two countries.

Canada has been working to mend bilateral ties following a diplomatic row in 2018 that resulted in the removal of ambassadors in both countries.

The government of former prime minister Justin Trudeau had sharply criticized the kingdom’s justice system and treatment of women, resulting in Saudi Arabia shuttering trade talks. Ambassadors were only restored in 2023.

“We’re moving from reconciliation to seeing what opportunities there are when trust has been rebuilt, to build on that trust and to kind of grow prosperity and opportunities for both Canadians and for Saudis,” Steiner said.

He said most Canadians only think of oil when they think about Saudi Arabia, but there are now many opportunities for Canadians in areas such as health care, energy, tourism and education.

Steiner pointed to mining and critical minerals in particular, noting Saudi Arabia has embarked on “making mining their second pillar.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand said she raised human rights and consular cases in her meetings while in Saudi Arabia.

“Engagement doesn’t mean endorsement,” Anand told reporters Thursday. “It is necessary in order to fulfil the intentions of Canadian values, to represent those values on the world stage, to bring those values to the table.”

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Carney repeated the line that “engagement is not endorsement,” and said he couldn’t think of a country where his government would agree with everything they’re doing.

“We care deeply about human rights. We care deeply, about self-determination for nations,” he said. “Lecturing countries from afar is an ineffective strategy. It’s satisfying, but it’s ineffective.”

The prime minister repeated that Canada needs to diversify its partnerships and said it’s engaging with partners around the world.

“We recognize, as a government, the importance of countries that are active and influential in geographies in the world and the situations in the world about which we care deeply,” he said.

The Montreal-based Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights has called on Ottawa to push Riyadh to drop its travel ban on Raif Badawi, a blogger Saudi Arabia flogged and imprisoned for 10 years over his writing.

Badawi served a decade in prison and has been barred from leaving the kingdom since his release in 2022, despite his wife and children living in Quebec.

When asked about the case, Carney said in French that it’s a “very difficult situation” for the Badawi family and he would not disclose what he raises privately with his foreign counterparts. He argued, however, that engaging more with Saudi Arabia could give Canada more ability to influence situations that concern Canada.

Carney took part Thursday in a signing ceremony between multiple Saudi and Canadian corporations and institutions, including Canadian engineering firms Hatch and AtkinsRéalis, formerly known as SNC-Lavalin.

The Prime Minister’s Office said the 13 new commercial agreements and memorandums of understanding are worth more than $1 billion.

Before the various agreements were signed, Carney gave remarks alongside Saudi Investment Minister Fahad Al-Saif.

Al-Saif said his country is open for long-term investment and said Canada can share expertise in infrastructure, aviation and mining critical minerals.

“Canada offers capital, technology and (a) trusted long term partner,” Al-Saif said. “For Canada, Saudi long-term investors bring patient capital, anchored by (a) competitive national policy framework.”

Carney praised Saudi Arabia’s 2030 economic growth plan and drew parallels with Canada’s efforts to diversify trade and expand infrastructure and defence projects.

“When the world throws you a crisis — which it will — when it throws you an economic problem, when it throws you a geopolitical challenge, you keep focused on your long-term plan,” he said.

“The private sector has kept the relationship alive — the commercial relationship alive. But we’ve barely scratched the potential of the relationship, and today is part of the next phase of building up.”

He said a delegation of Canadian pension funds will be returning to Saudi Arabia “in a few months” to seek out opportunities in the kingdom, on top of recent ministerial visits to the kingdom.

He also praised Saudi Arabia’s rising influence in culture, sport and video games.

“The world is seeing this pillar of vibrant society, where the kingdom’s becoming a nexus of global commerce, culture, and creativity,” Carney said.

Conservative foreign affairs critic and MP for Stormont—Dundas—Glengarry Eric Duncan was critical of the deals signed with Saudi Arabia, calling them “non-binding aspirational documents.”

“I think Canadians are looking for more results than they are another council or another (memorandum of understanding),” he said.

Duncan said there have been a lot of agreements signed over the course of the last year, but that there has been a decline in business capital investment for the last five months.

“The (memorandums of understanding) aren’t matching up to what their goals are, what the realities are on the ground,” he said.

Duncan said Saudi Arabia is an important partner for Canada, given the situation in the Middle East. However, he said it’s important that the government engage in conversations on human rights.

“The prime minister today I thought was quite evasive in his willingness to talk about that, but I think part of a strong bilateral relationship is the ability to raise that,” he said.

The prime minister’s meetings Thursday included Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser, Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Bandar al Khorayef, and Bob Wilt, the head of Saudi state-owned mining company Ma’aden.

The Canadian delegation travelling with Carney also includes Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne, Defence Minister David McGuinty, Defence Investment Agency CEO Doug Guzman and Liberal MP Sameer Zuberi.

Steiner said he knows Champagne is working on resolving issues around double taxation between the two countries and foreign-investment protection.

“Those frictions coming down are just as important as the interest of investors in business to come to the different markets. If it’s too difficult, they’ll go elsewhere.”

Carney is nearing the end of his week-long trip in the Middle East. He arrived in Jeddah on Wednesday night fresh from a NATO summit held in Ankara, Turkey.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 9, 2026.

— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa

Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press