The Prime Minister of Canada, Mark Carney, has touched down in Jeddah, leading a high-level delegation in his first official visit to Saudi Arabia.
Carney’s visit to the Kingdom – the first visit by a Canadian Prime Minister to Saudi Arabia in 26 years – saw the signing of landmark agreements to boost cooperation across various sectors, ushering in a new chapter in the Saudi-Canadian relations.
A New Saudi-Canadian Era
Carney arrived in Jeddah on Thursday, July 9, 2026, where Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman received him with an official reception ceremony at Al-Salam Palace, reported the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).
The Big Picture: The two leaders held a session of talks during which they reviewed Saudi-Canadian relations, avenues for strengthening cooperation, and opportunities for enhancing development across various sectors.
According to Carney’s office, both leaders recognized the growing cooperation between the two countries, as demonstrated in the recent Air Transport Agreement to increase air travel, and visits from Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of International Trade, Minister of Artificial Intelligence, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources.
Furthermore, Carney praised Saudi Arabia’s transformative strategy under Vision 2030, which resulted in unprecedented investments in infrastructure, dynamic growth in tourism, and advancements in health and technology.
The two leaders’ discussions focused on leveraging Canadian expertise to accelerate medical and health innovations, support green energy projects, such as wind, solar, hydrogen, and carbon capture, and deploy AI to improve and save lives.
Moreover, the Canadian Prime Minister emphasized commitment to building a stronger partnership with Saudi Arabia, based on mutual trust, pragmatic cooperation, and a focus on catalyzing benefits for the two countries’ peoples.
Regional Issues on the Table
According to SPA, the Saudi Crown Prince and the Canadian Prime Minister discussed the latest regional and international developments, as well as efforts made to address them.
Deep Dive: Carney condemned Iran’s attacks on Gulf countries, reiterating Canada’s support for the sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity of countries in the region.
The two leaders also underscored the need for de-escalation, protecting civilians, and advancing diplomatic efforts to promote regional stability and security.
Backstory: Saudi Arabia’s extensive diplomatic efforts led several countries to recognize Palestinian Statehood. Canada, alongside the UK, France, Australia, and Portugal, recognized the State of Palestine in September 2025, ahead of the High-Level International Conference on the Implementation of the Two-State Solution, co-hosted by Saudi Arabia and France.
Saudi-Canadian Discussions
On the sidelines of the visit, a series of bilateral meetings took place between Saudi and Canadian senior officials to discuss issues of mutual interest and explore ways for enhancing cooperation.
The Details: Carney met with Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser in Jeddah. The three officials reviewed bilateral relations, discussed ways to deepen cooperation in the energy sector, and explored joint investment opportunities.
Moreover, the Canadian Prime Minister held a meeting with Saudi Minister of Industry and Mineral Resources Bandar Al-Khorayef. Both officials reviewed ways to strengthen industrial and mining ties, expand bilateral investments, and develop cooperation in advanced industries for mutual benefit.
The discussions highlighted the significant impact of Canadian investments in Saudi Arabia’s mining exploration sector. Moving forward, both countries aim to deepen their strategic partnership in mining and metals to support their respective economic development goals.
On the diplomatic front, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand in Jeddah. During their meeting, they discussed the recent regional developments, condemning the Iranian violations targeting tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and the heinous attacks against several countries in the region.
In this regard, the two ministers underscored the importance of de-escalation, returning to the negotiating track, and prioritizing dialogue to reach a comprehensive agreement that reinforces peace and security at the regional and international levels.
Fostering Partnership
Carney’s visit yielded an array of agreements and memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to accelerate collaboration across various fields and bolster the Saudi-Canada partnership.
- An MoU between the Saudi Ministry of Energy and the Department of Natural Resources Canada.
- An MoU between the Saudi and Canadian governments on establishing the Saudi-Canadian Coordination Council to strengthen cooperation across key defense, economic, trade and investment, cultural, educational, scientific, and consular priorities.
- An MoU between the Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Department of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED), on artificial intelligence investment and skills development.
Landmark Agreements
State of Play: The Saudi-Canadian Investment Forum kicked off on Thursday, with the signing of 15 MoUs and cooperation agreements between government entities, companies and institutions from Saudi Arabia and Canada. The agreements aim to boost Saudi-Canadian economic ties and expand areas of joint investment and cooperation.
Discussions addressed opportunities in Saudi Arabia’s financial services, mining, advanced industries, AI, and data centers, highlighting the incentives offered under Vision 2030.
The forum showcased the Kingdom’s rapid industrial growth and its strategic location connecting global markets, opening new avenues for Canadian partnerships. Additionally, discussions highlighted Saudi Arabia’s $2.5 trillion mineral resource potential and its expanding exploration and value chains, which align perfectly with Canada’s advanced mining expertise.
What to Watch: Saudi Arabia’s AI giant HUMAIN announced a strategic AI compute collaboration with Canada’s Cohere to expand AI cooperation.
As part of this collaboration, HUMAIN will allocate at least 50 megawatts of dedicated AI compute capacity to support Cohere’s model research and development. The infrastructure is expected to be live by Q4 2027, with the ability to scale up over the next five years.
Moreover, the two companies will jointly develop secure enterprise AI solutions aimed at improving productivity, knowledge management, customer engagement, and operational efficiency for regional organizations.
The collaboration includes building sovereign AI models, specifically focusing on Arabic-language models, domain-adapted foundation models, and special-purpose models tailored to specific enterprise sectors.
It also leverages HUMAIN’s full-stack AI infrastructure platform alongside Cohere’s expertise in frontier model development and secure enterprise AI engineering.
