Carney meets with allied nations in Turkey on margins of NATO summit
Posted Jul 7, 2026 1:29 am.
Last Updated Jul 7, 2026 7:11 am.
ANKARA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is in and out of meetings Tuesday with heads of allied nations in Turkey’s capital on the margins of this year’s NATO summit.
The prime minister met with Turkish President Recep Erdogan, who is hosting this year’s summit, and the two leaders announced their governments are formally launching free-trade negotiations.
A bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also on his agenda.
Carney is later expected to attend a trilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Norwegian Prime Minister Gahr Store.
Ahead of his trip, Carney named a German and Norwegian consortium as the preferred bidder for a fleet of submarines for the Royal Canadian Navy.
Carney also had a discussion with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung on the sidelines of the NATO leader’s lounge.
Defence Minister David McGuinty said it was a good meeting during a media scrum at the summit Tuesday. He said that Korean firm Hanwha remains a bidder in reserve for the submarine contract, depending on how formal negotiations with TKMS go.
The NATO summit is expected to focus on a collective increase in defence budgeting and alliance unity amid an increasingly threatening world.
Countries are expected to announce tens of billions of dollars in military spending around the margins of the summit.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte says the alliance is angling to purchase a fleet of Saab GlobalEye radar jets largely manufactured in Canada.
Carney has, in the meantime, been campaigning for allies to set up a multinational defence bank to help finance growth in the global defence sector.
Carney was to speak at a panel on the margins of the summit about financing the defence sector, but that’s been removed from his schedule.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand, however, will take part.
Leaders are expected to gather for a dinner event Tuesday evening before the big North Atlantic Council meeting on Wednesday.
The summit is being streamlined this year, which experts say is to avoid diplomatic frictions.
U.S. President Donald Trump once again cast a shadow over the gathering after doubling down on provocative actions against allies since last year’s summit in The Hague.
Earlier this year, Trump made a case for America annexing Greenland, and later started a surprise war against Iran without warning allies in advance — then berated them for not helping his fight.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2026.
Kyle Duggan, The Canadian Press
