Canada, UK agree to establish trade working group, expand defense collaboration
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney attends a bilateral meeting with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, before the start of the G7 summit, at Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario Canada, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool
OTTAWA (Reuters) -Canada and the United Kingdom agreed on Sunday to set up a trade working group which will submit its recommendations to the prime ministers of the respective countries within the next six months, a joint statement by the two governments said.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Canada for bilateral meetings with Prime Minister Mark Carney before the G7 leaders' summit in Alberta from Sunday to Tuesday.
Carney has been reaching out to allies to strengthen and diversify the country's trade as its industries, especially steel, aluminum and automobiles, face U.S. tariffs.
"We will establish a new structured UK-Canada Economic and Trade Working Group to deepen our existing trading relationship further," the joint statement by the two prime ministers said.
The working group would seek to address market access barriers, expand arrangements into areas such as digital trade, and explore cooperation to develop critical minerals and artificial intelligence infrastructure, the statement said.
While the UK is an important trading partner for Canada, it represents only a small share of Canada's exports. In 2024, the UK represented 3.6% of exports and 1.2% of imports for the country, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
Exports to the UK are mainly dominated by gold and energy products.
The joint statement also said that Canada would introduce legislation in the second half of the year to ratify the UK's accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), a free trade group of 11 countries.
The group comprises Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and Canada.
The UK gained access to nine countries under the Indo-Pacific trade treaty last year and is still awaiting its ratification by Canada and Mexico.
The two countries will also expand defense collaboration including support for Ukraine, the statement said.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Focus Malaysia
37 minutes ago
- Focus Malaysia
MACC targets RM4.5 bil in undeclared Daim assets across five countries
THE Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has uncovered undeclared assets worth at least RM4.5 bil linked to the late former Finance Minister Tun Daim Zainuddin, his family, and proxies in five countries — the US, Singapore, Japan, Italy, and Jersey (a British island near France). These assets include condominiums, commercial buildings, bank accounts, a hotel in Japan, and a shopping mall in Italy. MACC plans to seek restraining orders to freeze them, with assistance from foreign authorities. 'All of these assets and properties were not declared to MACC during investigations conducted in 2023. Therefore, a restraining order will be sought soon, with help from the relevant countries,' a source said. Earlier, MACC froze seven properties and one bank account in the UK worth RM758.2 million, believed to be owned by Daim's wife, Toh Puan Na'imah Abdul Khalid, and her family. MACC found that the assets are linked to alleged offences under the Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act (AMLATFPUAA) 2001. However, on June 23, the Kuala Lumpur High Court temporarily suspended the freezing order after Daim's wife successfully challenged it through her lawyer, Datuk Dr Gurdial Singh Nijar. MACC is also seeking to seize Ilham Tower in Kuala Lumpur and has opened eight investigation papers based on new information from foreign agencies regarding Daim's undeclared assets during the 2023 probe. —June 29, 2025 Main image: Malay Mail
The Sun
41 minutes ago
- The Sun
Germany backs Israel after Iran war in first high-level visit
BAT YAM: German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt expressed support for Israel on Sunday during a visit to the site of an Iranian missile strike near Tel Aviv, part of the destruction left by this month's 12-day war. It was the first visit by a senior foreign official since the war between Iran and Israel, which ended on Tuesday after a ceasefire was announced. 'We must deepen our support for Israel,' Dobrindt said, speaking amid the rubble in Bat Yam, south of the coastal hub of Tel Aviv, where an Iranian strike killed nine people including three children. Israel launched a bombing campaign against Iran on June 13, saying it was aimed at keeping the Islamic republic from developing a nuclear weapon -- an ambition Tehran has consistently denied. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called the German visit a gesture of 'solidarity' and urged the international community to reimpose sanctions on Iran. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on June 17, on the sidelines of a G7 summit in Canada, said Israel was doing the 'dirty work... for all of us' by targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Israel has acknowledged being hit by more than 50 missiles during the 12-day war with Iran, resulting in 28 deaths, but the true extent of the damage may never be known due to stringent media restrictions. In Iran, Israeli strikes killed at least 627 civilians and injured nearly 4,900, according to official figures.
New Straits Times
an hour ago
- New Straits Times
Ukraine turns to Africa in its struggle against Russia
ON Africa's dry western tip, Mauritania has become an unlikely staging post for Ukraine's increasingly global struggle with its adversary Russia. Kyiv's new embassy in the country's capital Nouakchott - among eight it has opened in Africa since Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine - has overseen food aid deliveries to refugees from neighbouring Mali, embassy and aid officials say. Kyiv is also offering to train Mauritanian soldiers, Ukraine's top envoy to Africa told Reuters, amid tension between Mauritania and Mali, where Moscow backs government forces against Tuareg rebels. Moscow's soldiers and mercenaries guard presidents in several West and Central African countries, while Russian mining companies are entrenched in the Sahel region that includes Mali. Russia's military presence in the Sahel "undermined stability", the envoy, Maksym Subkh said in an interview in Kyiv. "Ukraine is ready to continue training officers and representatives of the Mauritanian armed forces, to share the technologies and achievements that Ukraine has made" on the battlefield against Russia, Subkh said, adding that Ukraine had previously provided such training prior to Russia's invasion. The Mauritanian government did not respond to a request for comment about Ukraine's offer of more training. Russia's embassy in Mauritania did not respond to a request for comment. Earlier in June, the Kremlin said Russia would increase cooperation with African countries including in sensitive areas such as defence. Russia is the largest weapons supplier to Africa, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Reuters' interviews with four senior Ukrainian officials, two aid officials and Western diplomats and analysts for this story, along with access to new missions in Mauritania and Democratic Republic of Congo, reveal new details about Kyiv's Africa strategy including the deliveries of aid to Malian refugees, the proposal to train Mauritania's military, and the broader bid to counter Russia's much more entrenched presence. Early in the Ukraine war, many African countries declined to take Kyiv's side at the United Nations, even after Russia's bombing of Ukraine's ports drove up prices on the continent as exports of food and fertiliser were curtailed. Months later, Ukraine produced its first Africa strategy, a public document. The stated goals were to counter Russia's narrative and increase trade and investment on a continent that remembers Russian support in the Cold War and Moscow's stance against apartheid. Subkh was appointed to lead the effort, and Kyiv has since opened eight out of 10 new embassies announced in 2022, he said, bringing to 18 the number of missions Ukraine has in Africa. Host countries include Ivory Coast and Congo, which condemned Russia's invasion early on. Kyiv plans to open an embassy this year in Sudan, where Russia is accused by the US of arming both sides in a brutal conflict. Russia denies a role there. However, Kyiv cannot match an opponent with deep commercial and security ties, including a long-standing presence of Moscow's intelligence agencies. In total, Russia has around 40 missions in Africa, and recently announced plans to open seven more. Ukraine wants to persuade African nations that its fight against Russia, its Soviet-era master, has parallels with their own efforts to overcome the legacy of European colonialism, Subkh said. Despite the offer of military training, Ukraine's wartime effort to win African allies has largely focused on food. Kyiv says it has sent nearly 300,000 tonnes as aid, distributed through the World Food Programme (WFP) under an EU and US-financed scheme called Grain from Ukraine that rivals a similar Russian food aid plan for Africa. The Ukrainian-branded aid has reached 8 million people in 12 countries, the European Policy Centre, a think-tank, said in April. Recipients have included Congo, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, Kenya and Sudan. In Mauritania it has mostly been destined for Mbera, West Africa's largest refugee camp, housing soaring numbers of Malians fleeing the Russia-backed forces across the border. And after the reopening of Black Sea ports bombarded and blockaded by Russia in the first two years of war, Ukraine exported nearly 10 million tonnes of grain to Africa in 2024, almost double the previous year, agriculture ministry data shows. By showing it is a major alternative to Russian food supplies, Ukraine hopes African nations that have maintained neutrality over the war will begin to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. "Maintaining its role as one of the guarantors of the world's food security, Ukraine can prevent Russia from using food supplies as political leverage," Roman Sereda, Ukraine's chargé d'affaires in Nouakchott, where Russia has had an embassy for six decades, said in an interview. Ukraine is gaining visibility. In April, Volodymyr Zelenskyy became the first Ukrainian president to visit South Africa, a close Russia ally. He called for recognition of Ukraine's struggle and playing up potential deals on energy, fertiliser production and security. South African foreign ministry spokesman Chrispin Phiri said both Ukraine and Russia were allies. He said South Africa advocated for peace and was mediating on humanitarian issues such as the return of Ukrainian children Kyiv says were taken to Russia. However, South African analyst Tim Murithi said Ukraine's Africa strategy lacked coherence, pointing out that Kyiv had not nominated an ambassador in Ethiopia, a key posting that countries including Russia use to engage with the influential African Union, based in Addis Ababa. Ukraine's commercial exports are heavily tilted towards North Africa, with sub-Saharan nations including Ethiopia, Kenya and Nigeria buying a fraction of what they imported before the war, Ukrainian data shows. Mauritania itself bought far less food from Ukraine last year than in 2021. There have been setbacks in Ukraine's Africa drive, such as the downgrading of a planned October 2024 Ukraine-Africa summit to a video conference. Moscow hosted a well-attended Africa summit in 2023. "At the beginning, they wanted to have it physically in Kyiv," said Jean-Yves Ollivier, chairman of the Brazzaville Foundation, a conflict prevention organisation that Ukraine consulted on the summit. The downgrade has not previously been reported. Ukraine's higher profile has been controversial. Mali broke off relations with Kyiv over a Tuareg rebel attack in July that wiped out 47 Malian soldiers and 84 Russian fighters supporting the government, after a Ukrainian intelligence official appeared to suggest Ukrainian involvement. Ukraine has since strongly denied it was involved. Ukraine had no role in covert operations in the region, Subkh said. Now, a small quantity of Ukraine's aid has reached the Malian refugees fleeing the violence, WFP's spokesperson in Mauritania confirmed in response to questions for this story. The camp's population has almost tripled in two years to about 250,000 people. Three deliveries amounting to a total of about 1,400 tonnes had arrived in Mauritania by December, one of Ukraine's diplomats in Nouakchott, Viktor Bort, said. The split peas, vegetable oil and wheat were still being distributed to Mbera in May, the WFP spokesperson said. Bort, 29, who staffed the mission alone when it opened in May 2024, told Reuters his focus was to build relationships in the government and oversee the deliveries of aid to WFP for the Malian refugees, who he said were fleeing Russians. Kyiv's senior Africa envoy, Subkh, said aid distribution was decided by WFP. Ukraine's contributions were strictly humanitarian and the country opposed politicising aid, he said. Mauritania's communications ministry said the government had accepted Ukrainian food aid deliveries. It said it did not know that Ukrainian aid had reached the camp. Ukraine's new missions are thinly staffed and it has sought support from volunteers and donors. Two diplomats from other countries said the embassy official in Mauritania, Bort, initially travelled without security, relying on friendly envoys from other countries for help, but quickly gained notice for his energy and networking. Sereda, the chargé d'affaires who joined Bort some months ago, said Ukraine's outreach and aid deliveries had improved Kyiv's reputation and Mauritanians' understanding of its position, with increased trade links hopefully to follow. Elsewhere, aid recipients have included war-ravaged Democratic Republic of Congo, where Ukraine's ambassador Vasyl Hamianin told Reuters the two countries were discussing long-term agriculture and food security agreements. "We accepted the Ukrainian embassy in a spirit of openness and cooperation. There is no need to link its presence to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," Congo's presidential office said in a statement.
