The European Union and Canada announced the signing of a series of strategic agreements to enhance their cooperation in the fields of critical minerals, artificial intelligence, and digital trade, in a move both sides described as laying the foundation for the closest partnership between the EU and a non-European country.
The announcement came at the end of the EU-Canada Summit hosted in Montreal on Thursday and Friday, which also saw Canada announce its intention to participate in the European loan for Ukraine, valued at 90 billion euros.
Partnership to Enhance Resilience
Euro News quoted Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as saying that the alliance with the EU enhances sovereignty and resilience, enabling joint confrontation of challenges and shocks, emphasizing that his country will not wait for the future of AI to be decided elsewhere.
For his part, European Council President Antonio Costa described the partnership as the closest, deepest, and strongest the EU has established with a non-European state, considering that Canada possesses more European characteristics than any other country outside the continent.
Critical Minerals and Artificial Intelligence
According to the network, critical minerals formed a central axis in the new agreements, given their importance in technological industries and the transition to clean energy, including electric vehicle batteries and wind turbines.
In this regard, both parties agreed to allow the European Investment Bank to support the financing of critical mineral projects in Canada, contributing to attracting investments and accelerating the development of the mining sector, while the EU seeks to diversify sources of these minerals and reduce its dependence on China.
In the field of artificial intelligence, both sides agreed to enhance cooperation in advanced computing, making European high-performance computing infrastructure available to Canadian researchers and companies, with the aim of developing safe and independent AI systems.
The Canadian government announced two days ago (Thursday) an investment of one billion euros in the Canadian AI company "Cohere," which is partnered with the German company "Alpha Alpha."
Digital Cooperation and European Programs
The understandings also included agreements in the field of digital trade, aimed at facilitating electronic transactions and reducing their costs, alongside discussions on Canada's participation in several European programs, including the "Erasmus" student exchange program and the "Galileo" satellite navigation program.
Both sides also agreed to enhance coordination in AI and climate policies, and to establish regular mechanisms for cooperation between their parliamentary, executive, and judicial institutions.
Broader Alliance and Messages to Washington
The EU and Canada look forward to expanding the scope of the partnership in the future by including other allied countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Australia, thereby enabling the construction of a broader framework for economic and trade coordination amid shifts in international relations and escalating trade tensions.
The EU-Canada rapprochement drew criticism from US President Donald Trump, who described it as an "hostile act," while Carney affirmed that the United States will reap the benefits of the growing partnership between the two sides.
The new agreements reflect a European-Canadian trend toward enhancing cooperation in strategic sectors, diversifying economic and technological partnerships, and expanding the margin of independence in the face of international challenges.
It is worth noting that Canada intensified its defense cooperation with Europe during the past year, in an effort to diversify its partnerships and enhance its military capabilities, amid repeated threats by US President Donald Trump to annex Canada and European concerns about the future of US commitment to the security of the continent, according to the US website "Politico".
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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