UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, right, receives Prime Minister Mark Carney before a meeting at Al Shati Palace in Abu Dhabi, on Thursday.Ryan Carter / UAE Presidential C/Reuters
Prime Minister Mark Carney pitched Canada to heavyweight investors during a Thursday visit to the United Arab Emirates, and launched negotiations on a free-trade agreement with the Gulf-region financial hub.
The Gulf, with its trillions of dollars in investment capital, is one of several priority regions for Canada, along with Europe and Asia, as it seeks to diversify trade away from the increasingly unreliable U.S. under President Donald Trump. That has made attracting foreign investment in energy, infrastructure, artificial intelligence and resources a high priority.
On Thursday, Mr. Carney met with top executives from state-owned sovereign wealth funds and investment companies, including Mubadala Investment Company, which manages US$330-billion of assets, and Abu Dhabi Investment Council (ADIC). He also met leadership from MGX Fund Management Limited, a fund focused on artificial intelligence, as well as the Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company.
Opinion: Carney’s values-free foreign policy is on display in the UAE
Mr. Carney and UAE President Sheik Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed a Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA). They also announced negotiations have begun on a Canada-UAE Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement that would cut tariffs, remove trade barriers and expand market access for Canadian exporters.
A FIPA, which is often a precursor to a full-fledged trade agreement, paves the way for more bilateral investment by setting up a more stable, rules-based environment for foreign investors.
Canada has signed nearly 40 of these around the world as they grant protection to business investors in signatory countries and are meant to assure that their respective capital-markets investments will not be damaged or appropriated without due process and compensation.
Mr. Carney has set a goal of doubling non-U.S. exports in a decade, which means expanding annual sales overseas by $300-billion. And he has said that Canada will draw in $500-billion of new private-sector investment over five years.
Mr. Carney toured the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi during his visit, a sprawling mosque featuring 82 domes which claims to house the world's largest hand-knotted carpet. Mr. Carney's visit to the UAE is the first by a sitting Canadian prime minister since 1983.
The Canadian Press
The UAE was Canada’s 16th-largest export market in 2024, with $3.4-billion of two-way trade, according to Statistics Canada. Foreign direct investment in Canada from the UAE totalled $8.8-billion.
Sovereign wealth funds managed by the UAE, as well as those in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait, offer huge pools of untapped investment potential for Canada.
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest, who is co-chair of the Canada-UAE Business Council and is in the Emirates for the Carney visit, said the Gulf country is interested in investing in Canadian mining, energy, infrastructure and artificial-intelligence technology, among other areas.
“The relationship is really at the best it’s ever been,” Mr. Charest said of ties between Canada and the UAE. He said Mr. Carney’s visit helps. “The last time a Canadian Prime Minister set foot here was forty years ago,” the former premier said, adding that by comparison, French President Emmanuel Macron has visited the UAE several times in recent years.
Former Quebec premier Jean Charest says Canada can likely sign a trade deal with the United Arab Emirates soon.
The Canadian Press
On Thursday, Mr. Carney attended a dinner held by Sheik Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is the UAE’s national security adviser as well as the president’s brother and a political power broker taking an aggressive approach to investing in AI.
Sheik Tahnoon chairs the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), the UAE’s largest sovereign wealth fund with US$1.1-trillion of assets, as well as Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADQ), a relative newcomer among the region’s most influential sovereign wealth funds. That makes him one of the most influential decision-makers when it comes to allocating the UAE’s vast sovereign wealth abroad.
ADQ’s US$251-billion portfolio doubled in size over the past four years and includes ownership of Abu Dhabi’s airline, Etihad Airways, and a stake in auction house Sotheby’s. And its rapid expansion has also included a push to make its investments more international to add diversity to a portfolio that once leaned heavily on government assets.
Mubadala is the UAE’s second-largest sovereign wealth fund, managing about US$330-billion of assets and investments spanning semiconductors, AI, clean energy and health care. That includes existing investments in Canada – last year, Mubadala struck a $4.7-billion deal to take Toronto-based wealth manager CI Financial Corp. private.
Mubadala also owns ADIC and is one of the largest backers of MGX, the state-owned AI and technology investment company. MGX has joined a partnership with Microsoft Corp. and other large investors such as BlackRock Inc. to back US$30-billion of global AI infrastructure.
The Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement that it hopes a trade deal with the UAE would support an expansion of Canadian business into the Emirates including engineering, construction and aerospace as well as agri-food and seafood. It also said it hopes to attract “billions of dollars of UAE investment into major projects such as Canadian ports, mines, liquefied natural gas, data centres and critical minerals.”