Prime Minister Mark Carney says Ottawa is working on a $1-billion project aimed at expanding critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, while securing the equivalent of $70 billion in investment from the United Arab Emirates.
The announcements come as Carney concluded a visit to Abu Dhabi, which focused heavily on trade amid concerns about the war in Sudan.
"I'm pleased that an agreement valued over $1 billion is in the process of being finalized," Carney said in a Friday morning speech to the Canada-U.A.E. Business Council.
"[It] will expand critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, creating jobs, boosting [the] long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies and advanced manufacturing. More on that soon," he said.
Carney said that the new project is a matter of economic growth and human development.
"We are a global leader in AI, in quantum and life sciences. And we realize it's time to begin to commercialize these strengths, for the benefit of humanity," Carney said.
The prime minister personally invited Emirati investors to visit him in Canada to help spur more major projects, after announcing this week the signing of an investment-protection pact and the launch of trade negotiations.
"We welcome U.A.E. investors to visit Canada — I will personally host them — to explore investment in Canada's transformative projects," he said.
To that end, Carney's office said Friday that the U.A.E. had agreed to invest $70 billion in Canada.
Carney 'very confident' in U.A.E. trade expansion
The U.A.E. foreign ministry had not published a notice of the deal, but media reporting suggests the funding will include energy, AI logistics, mining and other strategic industries.
Carney's office said the funding is part of a bilateral investment framework agreement, and did not indicate the timeline under which the dollars would flow.
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