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Prime Minister strengthens partnerships with Nordic countries

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Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland

The Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, today concluded his visit to Iceland, where he met with the leaders of Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland to continue strengthening ties and advancing key mutual priorities. The Nordic leaders focused on security in Europe and the Arctic, and reform and reconstruction in Ukraine, while fighting climate change, driving economic growth that benefits everyone, creating good middle-class jobs, and making life more affordable for people. The Prime Minister was invited to attend as a special guest.

While in Iceland, the Prime Minister endorsed a joint Canada-Nordic Leaders’ statement focused on enhancing co-operation in priority areas, including peace and security, climate action, and democracy and human rights. As transatlantic partners, the Nordic countries and Canada share inherent interests in our region and beyond as like-minded partners and friends.

In the face of the evolving internal security situation in Russia, the Prime Minister and the Nordic leaders reiterated their continued support for Ukraine. As the world continues to face the consequences of Russia’s brutal and unjustifiable invasion, Canada and the Nordic leaders affirmed their shared unwavering commitment to standing up for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders for as long as it takes. They welcomed the agreement on the new International Centre for Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) in The Hague. The leaders expressed support for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s investigations, as well as the Core Group’s ongoing work, to explore establishing a tribunal for the crime of aggression.

Prime Minister Trudeau underlined Canada’s efforts to strengthen democratic resilience and address challenges such as foreign interference, cyber incidents, online harms, disinformation, assaults on democracy, and emergency management. The Prime Minister highlighted Canada’s leadership of the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, which fights misinformation and disinformation, and our efforts to support media freedom and advance responsible business conduct for Canadian companies operating abroad, and our joint efforts through the Freedom Online Coalition. He stressed the importance for Canada and Nordic countries to continue to work together to counter cyber threats, promote stability in cyberspace, uphold the rules-based international order, and impose costs on those who engage in malicious cyber activity.

The Prime Minister emphasized the need for increased collaboration to better protect our oceans. Canada is an advocate for oceans through our work to set high standards for ocean conservation. The Prime Minister highlighted Canadian conservation efforts, including advocating for a high-level of ambition on ocean conservation through the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), where Canada played a key role, and advancing the recognition and use of nature-based solutions to address both climate change and biodiversity loss.

Canada and the Nordic leaders committed to continue to work together to advance global climate action to grow our economies and create good middle-class jobs. They agreed that pollution pricing is a very efficient way to do just that. The Prime Minister reiterated Canada’s call for all countries to adopt carbon pricing and work toward a collective goal of covering 60 per cent of global emissions by 2030 as outlined in the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge.

The Prime Minister emphasized Canada as a like-minded partner for the Nordic Region. We share many of the objectives outlined under the Nordic’s Vision 2030, including the commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. He positioned Canada as a trading partner of choice, particularly because of our growing clean economy, robust trade agreements, commitment to diverse and inclusive trade, and responsible business conduct abroad. Prime Minister Trudeau underscored Canada’s interest in responsibly and sustainably developing natural resources, while moving to a low-carbon economy. He highlighted Canada’s interest in partnering in the research and development of advanced technologies in carbon capture and storage and clean hydrogen, and on best practices for accelerating energy system transformations that cut emissions. He also underlined the Sustainable Critical Minerals Strategy as Canada’s blueprint to fostering resilient supply chains in the critical raw materials required to produce electric vehicle batteries and other clean technologies.

Quote

“Canada and Nordic countries are united in our values, friendship, and shared priorities. As we face an increasingly challenging and uncertain world, we must work together to strengthen our partnership and advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, human rights, protecting the environment, and finding new economic opportunities for our businesses and workers. Above all, we put people at the centre of everything we do, and I look forward to building on our partnerships for the benefit of all our countries.”

The Rt. Hon. Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada

Quick Facts

  • Prime Minister Trudeau is the first Canadian Prime Minister to attend a Nordic Prime Ministers’ Meeting (NPMM).
  • The Prime Minister held bilateral meetings with the Prime Minister of Iceland, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, the Prime Minister of Finland, Petteri Orpo, the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Støre and the Prime Minister of Sweden, Ulf Kristersson.
  • Canada’s objectives in the Arctic are advanced through the Arctic and Northern Policy Framework (ANPF), which was co-developed with Canadian territorial, provincial, and Indigenous partners.
  • During the NPMM, the leaders’ agreed that their foreign ministers will meet in a Nordic-Canada strategic dialogue format in the near future.
  • The Prime Minister toured Carbfix, a woman-led Icelandic company that has developed a novel and cost-effective approach to capturing and storing CO₂, where he held in-depth discussions to learn from Iceland’s clean energy expertise, and underscored Canada’s commitment to building a clean energy economy.
  • Canada has welcomed several significant investments from the Nordic region over the past year and Canadian businesses are investing in the Nordics, creating more opportunities for Canadian and Nordic businesses and enhancing the resilience and security of our supply chains. For example, last year, Finnish tech company Nokia announced plans to expand its Ottawa facility, which was also supported with funding from the federal government.
  • In 2021, Canada launched the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge. This partnership aims to expand the use of pollution pricing by strengthening existing systems and supporting emerging ones. The Challenge also serves as a forum for dialogue and coordination to make pricing systems more effective and compatible and to support other countries in adopting carbon pricing and cutting emissions on the path to net-zero by 2050.
  • Iceland holds the Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers in 2023.
  • Canada has longstanding ties and shared values with all the Nordic countries.
  • Close to 1.3 million Canadians identified as being of Nordic descent in the 2021 census.
  • Combined, the Nordic countries are the world’s 12th largest economy ($2.42 trillion GDP) and 7th most affluent.
  • Merchandise trade between Canada and the Nordic countries was $13.6 billion in 2022. Total trade, including services, was $17.3 billion.

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