Prime Minister Mark Carney met Sunday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his nation’s capital ahead of the European Political Community summit, a gathering touching on strategic co-operation in politics, security and infrastructure.
Canada is the first non-European country to attend these meetings, which have taken place twice a year since they began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meetings include EU countries and others, such as Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine itself.
Carney thanked Pashinyan for the invitation to attend the summit during their meeting, saying it comes at a “crucial time” for Europe and European values.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the trip will focus on Ukraine’s defence and drumming up more trade and investment across the continent.
Carney will be in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, until Monday and is set to hold bilateral discussions with numerous world leaders during the summit, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
He will also join a trilateral meeting between European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is also travelling with the prime minister.
Jean-François Ratelle, an international studies professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the Caucasus region, said it’s disappointing that the visit doesn’t seem to be aimed at continuing Canada’s years of advocacy for democracy and peace in Armenia.
“We are witnessing a complete change of our foreign policy, and what are our general interests,” Ratelle told The Canadian Press.
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“It’s looking for our own interests and our own opportunities, and not playing that leading role in norms, and what used to define Canada.”
The prime minister’s news release announcing the trip did not touch on the recent history of the Caucasus region. The previous Trudeau government weighed in multiple times on ethnic conflict in the region and often expressed support for the Armenian diaspora in Canada.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought for control of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Canada and other countries recognize the region as part of Azerbaijan, despite the region’s population being largely ethnic Armenian.
The conflict has flared up at various points, particularly when Russian peacekeepers thinned out after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Azerbaijan restricted access to the region and eventually launched a military campaign against separatist groups that caused more than 100,000 people to evacuate in 2023, just as Canada opened an embassy in Yerevan.
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Canada has spoken out against Azerbaijan’s actions, joined an EU security mission and at one point halted military exports to Turkey over concerns that the country was sending Canadian components to its ally Azerbaijan to be used in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ottawa also sought to support what it called “fragile” democracies in former Soviet states such as Armenia through, among other things, efforts to counter misinformation.
Ratelle said that work has largely stopped since Carney took office, and there has been little visible work by the embassy in Yerevan to advance democracy.
Carney said Wednesday he had never been to Armenia before. The last prime minister to visit was Justin Trudeau at the Francophonie summit in 2018.
This weekend’s visit comes as Canada works to build trade ties with countries such as Turkey, where Carney is expected to visit for the NATO summit in July.
Ahead of that trip, Anand and others took part in events marking the Armenian genocide, a term rejected by the Turkish government.
Achim Hurrelmann, co-director of the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University, said it seems Carney is attending the conference to advance defence procurement deals with Europe.
“My guess is that he is primarily interested in the opportunity to meet EU leaders, and leaders from especially Ukraine and the U.K., all at once, to try to move toward implementing some of the common initiatives that have been launched with the European Union.”
— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa
TAKE PART ? YOU MEAN GIVE A WAY MORE OF MY HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS, LIKE IT WAS HIS.
Desperate to hitch his wagon to the war mongers of Europe. It’s 1919-1934 Germany all over again.
Russia is losing 30,000 troops a month. It’s economy sucks. All power to Ukraine.
Perogies over smirnoff pizz.
PP pizzers here are hilarious. PP trash talking to get more jet traffic over Toronto now. What a zhithead.
Hi Mark Carney. Armenia largest trading partner is Russia. What you can’t get a deal with President Trump. lol
Armenia has little to offer Canada. Just another European vacation for Carney and comes back with nothing as usual.
Oh for sure, let’s secure more trade deals with stable countries like Turkey, and Armenia. Let’s align ourselves with the values of countries like the UK and AU, FR,….
Screw the US our longest biggest and most stable trading partner for the last 100 years.
All because of one Man.
More money for Ukraine? Sure glad they have a former Canadian Deputy PM, and finance minister taking care of all our tax dollars. She’ll know what to do with all that money.
What a time to be alive….
DEMON CARNEY RUNNING AROUND WITH BIG SMILE, GIVING OUR HARD EARNED TAX DOLLARS AWAY LIKE SMARTIES. LOOKING LIKE A HERO TO OUTSIDE WORLD. HAS DONE ZERO SINCE BEING ELECTED. ANOTHER CAR SALEMAN RUNNING OUR COUNTRY
Carney is promoting himself at the expense of Candians. He’s a huge disappointment at home and a charlaton when it comes to making appearances in the rest of the world. Soon the world will see him for what he is … a complete fool. He’s going to kill this country.
Yet more if our tax dollars to be spent on caviar and champagne with yet one more waste of time trip for the elites and Carney. All while many Canadian families are struggling to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads. More and more Canadians are cancelling summer road trips which will affect tourism and add to more unemployment. Carney and his elites in the Liberal party are fiddling while Canada burns. “An evil enemy will burn his own nation to the ground to rule over the ashes.” Sun Tsu.
i have a brilliant idea the gov should set up a committee to figure out how canada can help defend eu. now committee members need ti be real experts and that’s not cheap. now carney is a real leader so he’ll find someone to take the 500k plus expenses job plus the other important people there. that would be real leadership. gooo carney
perfect another vacation i mean important meeting outside the country.thats the way it goes around here. thats leadership on canada never being in canada lol. gooo carney
Too many years of failure in Canada
Carney blows goats. 3 more years to add to the 11 previous of useless leadership and deteriorating living standards. Oh well at least we can court the worst type of immigrants from countries that hate us .
Green card can’t arrive soon enough
Another Europe trip that will accomplish nothing. Carney promised a trade deal with the USA and has not delivered.