Prime Minister Carney strengthens trade and investment partnerships at the G20 Leaders' Summit

Canada NewsWire

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov. 23, 2025

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Nov. 23, 2025 /CNW/ - Prime Minister's Office

Canada's new government is moving from reliance to resilience, building a dense web of new connections to attract investment, diversify trade, and double non-U.S. exports over the next decade.

Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, is concluding his participation at the G20 Leaders' Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa – the first to be hosted on the African continent. This year's summit brought together nations representing three-quarters of the world's population, two-thirds of global GDP, and almost three-quarters of world trade.

South Africa is Canada's largest trading partner on the continent. In Johannesburg, the Prime Minister met with the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to further deepen commercial ties and strengthen cooperation in critical minerals, energy, and advanced technologies. To that end, the leaders:

Announced the launch of discussions toward a potential Canada-South Africa Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement, to help create a more predictable environment for two-way investment.
Welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the Canada-South Africa Nuclear Cooperation Agreement. Once in force, this agreement will provide a strong framework for collaboration on clean energy.
Recognised the opening of FinDev Canada's new regional office in Cape Town in 2026, which will expand Canadian investment across the continent, building on more than $318 million provided by FinDev Canada in 2025 alone.
Welcomed South Africa's public endorsement of the G7 Critical Minerals Action Plan and Roadmap, opening the door to stronger collaboration on responsible and resilient high-standard critical minerals supply chains.
Announced that Canada will welcome a trade mission from South Africa next year. The delegation will participate in the Ag in Motion trade fair in Saskatchewan, which will bring together international and Canadian leaders in agriculture innovation.

Prime Minister Carney met with the Prime Minister of Vietnam and incoming CPTPP Chair, Phạm Minh Chính, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to discuss new trade and investment pathways. The Prime Minister outlined his vision to bring together the Asia-centred CPTPP and the European Union (EU) – two of the world's largest trading blocs, with a combined market of over 1 billion consumers – to strengthen supply chains, expand trade, and catalyse investment. The leaders agreed to work together toward deeper CPTPP-EU economic integration, and the Prime Minister instructed his Personal Representative to the EU, John Hannaford, to mobilise engagement toward this goal, with a view to delivering significant early progress in 2026.

On the margins of the Summit, Canada, Australia, and India announced a new trilateral technology and innovation partnership that will strengthen cooperation on critical minerals, clean energy, and AI.

At the Summit, the Prime Minister met with government and business leaders to highlight Canada's strengths in clean and conventional energy, critical minerals, AI, advanced manufacturing, and agri-food – sectors that support millions of Canadian careers. He underscored Canada's mission to unleash $1 trillion in investment over the next five years to grow these sectors and transform our economy.

As part of Canada's G7 Presidency, Prime Minister Carney also worked with counterparts to strengthen coordination on economic, security, and development priorities shared across the G7 and G20 agendas. He announced new Canadian financial loans and capital to partner countries, harnessing Canada's strengths and expertise in infrastructure, clean energy, AI, research and innovation, and disaster and wildfire response. Canada also announced a $1 billion pledge to the Global Fund to protect millions of people from deadly infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. The Prime Minister also addressed pressing geopolitical challenges and reiterated Canada's unwavering support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.

At the G20 Leaders' Summit, the Prime Minister also met with the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre, the Chancellor of Germany, Friedrich Merz, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Sir Keir Starmer, the President of Türkiye, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, to discuss various areas of cooperation and new partnerships.

The G20 Leaders' Summit followed the Prime Minister's visit to the United Arab Emirates, where Canada secured a $70-billion foreign investment commitment – the largest in Canadian history. In a rapidly changing and more uncertain world, Canada is creating new partnerships, growing our markets, and strengthening our industries to deliver high-paying careers for Canadians.

Quote

"Canada's new government is building new partnerships, diversifying trade, and unleashing $1 trillion in new investment over the next five years. At the core of this mission is forging new partnerships and leading our partners in this new era of cooperation. At the G20 Leaders' Summit, Canada accelerated cooperation in critical minerals, AI, and energy, made investments to protect global health, and focused on creating transformative new opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses."
— The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada

Quick facts

This was Prime Minister Carney's first official visit to South Africa, as well as his first participation in the G20 Leaders' Summit as Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister was accompanied at the Summit by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anita Anand.
Under the theme of "Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability", South Africa identified four priorities for the Summit:
- Strengthening disaster resilience and response.
- Taking action to ensure debt sustainability for low-income countries.
- Mobilising finance for a just energy transition.
- Harnessing critical minerals for inclusive growth and sustainable development.
As one of Africa's most diversified and largest economies, South Africa is a prime destination for Canadian goods and services. In 2024, two-way trade between our two countries totalled $2.91 billion.

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SOURCE Prime Minister's Office