Readout - Prime Minister Carney meets with Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Sir Keir Starmer
OTTAWA, ON, June 15, 2025 /CNW/ - Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, met with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (UK), Sir Keir Starmer.
Prime Minister Carney welcomed Prime Minister Starmer to Ottawa. Building on Prime Minister Carney's visit to London earlier this year, the leaders emphasized the deep and historic ties between Canada and the UK.
The prime ministers underscored opportunities to strengthen that relationship to the benefit of Canada and the UK, including further collaboration on trade. To that end, they welcomed the creation of a new structured UK-Canada Economic and Trade Working Group to address existing market access barriers, to expand existing arrangements into new areas, such as digital trade, and to explore co-operation in the development of critical minerals and sovereign artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Prime Minister Carney also announced that the new government would seek to introduce legislation this fall to ratify the UK's accession to the CPTPP.
The leaders agreed to strengthen co-operation on defence and security, both bilaterally and through the NATO Alliance and Five Eyes partnership. To that end, they discussed their recent respective defence investments and announced the launch of the Joint Canada-UK Common Good Cyber Fund, which will support joint efforts to counter digital transnational repression and support civil society actors at high risk. The Fund will be supported by an initial joint investment of $5.7 million over five years.
Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer emphasized collaboration on AI systems to support our national security, including a partnership agreement to strengthen existing collaboration on AI safety and security between the Canadian AI Safety Institute and the UK AI Security Institute, as well as new Canadian and UK memoranda of understanding with leading Canadian AI firm Cohere.
The prime ministers also announced a joint $14.8 million investment in biomanufacturing to support research and development in both countries, including to better prepare for future health emergencies, and they welcomed increased collaboration on critical minerals and civil nuclear energy.
The leaders discussed international conflicts, expressing their support for a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and de-escalation of tensions between Israel and Iran.
Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Starmer looked forward to further discussions at the 2025 G7 Leaders' Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.
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This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca
SOURCE Prime Minister's Office