Joint statement by Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Kristersson

November 18, 2025

Ottawa, Ontario

Northern allies, innovators, and trade partners: Strategic partnership between Canada and Sweden

A partnership based on common values and mutual interests

Canada and Sweden (the “Participants”) share a close relationship with extensive cooperation based on common values and mutual interests. As NATO Allies, we stand united in defending our freedom, territories, values, and interests. We are like-minded Arctic nations with shared interests in the North Atlantic and the Arctic region, and who recognise the vital contributions and rights of Indigenous Peoples in the Arctic in keeping with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and international law. Canada and Sweden affirm our strong commitment to democracy and multilateralism, and to upholding human rights, including gender equality, the rule of law and the rules-based international order and trade system.

We confirm our shared desire to reinforce our bilateral relations through the establishment of this Strategic Partnership. It will strengthen the already close relations between our countries and further develop our cooperation in key policy areas, inter alia, competitiveness, trade and investment, economic development, security and defence, digital transition, science and research, innovation and technology, green transition, climate and energy, and Arctic cooperation and North-North connections. This Strategic Partnership reflects the rich and deepening ties between our peoples, governments, institutions, and businesses across the breadth of our relationship. It is aligned with the EU-Canada Strategic Partnership Agreement, EU-Canada Security and Defence Partnership and Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

A reliable trade partnership

We are like-minded supporters of free and rules-based trade. Canada and Sweden have complementary economies and enjoy a strong and growing commercial relationship, and this Strategic Partnership can unlock significant opportunities for both countries. The Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement offers predictability and transparency for businesses from both countries, and our countries are witnessing rapidly growing trade and investment relations.

Canada and Sweden will work together to further strengthen our business, commercial and industrial links, focusing particularly on sectors that will be most effective in enhancing the competitiveness, and productivity of our economies. We are committed to further diversifying and strengthening the resilience of our respective economies while reducing vulnerabilities in supply chains to minimize harmful dependencies.

This Strategic Partnership aims at promoting competitiveness and innovative solutions to societal challenges, such as the digital and green transition, as well as emerging strategic challenges. Leveraging key resources – such as our critical minerals, energy, and talent – will create new market opportunities for Canadian and Swedish businesses, foster sustainable economic development and create jobs, and help us achieve ambitions across a range of priorities from security and defence to prosperity, and climate goals.

A joint commitment to security, defence, and stability

Enhancing our partnership is more important than ever given the global challenges we face together, including Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, increasing cyber and hybrid threats, the increasing impact of climate change and the corresponding need for higher global climate ambition. Canada and Sweden are committed to deepening and broadening our bilateral engagement to tackle these shared challenges, including by the development of a mutual arrangement on strengthened defence cooperation.

As close transatlantic partners, NATO Allies and Arctic nations, Canada and Sweden are committed to strengthening the transatlantic link further. Our joint responses to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine have demonstrated the importance of transatlantic unity and cooperation. NATO remains the cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security and the bedrock of collective defence.

Canada and Sweden’s shared commitment to security and defence in the Euro-Atlantic area and the close partnership as NATO Allies provides an opportunity for deeper military cooperation between our countries, including through Canada’s role as framework nation for the NATO Multinational Brigade in Latvia. We recognize the potential for joint defence procurement, production, capability development and innovation.

We reaffirm our unwavering support for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is a violation of international law, including the Charter of the United Nations. We concur on the need to ensure accountability for Russia’s international crimes, including by establishing a special tribunal for the crime of aggression.

Canada and Sweden support Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts for a just and lasting peace based on international law and the UN Charter. To this end, Canada and Sweden will continue to work closely together with our other partners in the Coalition of the Willing to develop security guarantees for Ukraine and to support its defence. Canada and Sweden will also continue to support Ukraine on its irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration; Ukraine’s future is in NATO. We will continue our support to Ukraine for as long as it takes, both bilaterally and multilaterally.

Recognizing that Russia will remain the most significant threat to Euro-Atlantic security for the foreseeable future, Canada and Sweden will continue to cooperate closely to constrain and contest Russia’s aggressive actions and counter its ability to conduct destabilising activities. We underline the importance of limiting Russia’s ability to wage its war of aggression, including through supporting sanctions and measures against the shadow fleet transporting Russian oil used to circumvent sanctions and the G7 oil price cap.

Canada and Sweden recognise the value of our likeminded approach to arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation and continued cooperation within the frameworks of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention (the Ottawa Convention), the Stockholm Initiative for Nuclear Disarmament and the Initiative for Reducing the Risk of Nuclear Conflict.

Guided by the core principles of multilateral cooperation, international law including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), territorial integrity, and the rules-based international order, Canada and Sweden are committed to strengthening our collaboration to address the complex global challenges in the Arctic and maintain the region as secure, peaceful, and prosperous. Canada and Sweden both recognize the Arctic Council as the pre-eminent forum for Arctic governance and cooperation on sustainable development and environmental protection in the region, in collaboration with Indigenous Peoples and for the benefit of the people living in the Arctic.

Canada and Sweden recognise that the prosperity and security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are inextricably linked. We will work to bolster partnerships with the Indo-Pacific region, including through the implementation of Canada’s and the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategies, and Sweden’s defence policy direction for the Indo-Pacific region.

Enabling innovation and competitiveness through a strategic focus on science and technology

Canada and Sweden are global leaders in science and innovation. We recognise that our capacity in this respect is the key to solving the grand challenges of our time and fundamental for sustainable economic development and job creation.

We will build on the already close cooperation within established bodies such as the European Space Agency, Arctic Council, and others. Canada and Sweden encourage research collaboration between higher education institutions and research institutions, including through the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon Europe. To maintain our leadership in science and innovation we will foster research excellence, safeguard academic freedom and strengthen responsible internationalisation.

By leveraging closer collaboration in research and technology development, Canada and Sweden will continue to drive innovation while also supporting the responsible use and commercialisation of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, quantum and space technologies, next-generation wireless networks, including 5G and 6G, and clean energy. This cooperation is expected to foster robust innovation ecosystems, unlock business opportunities, and support long-term economic growth.

Canada and Sweden will enhance cooperation in health, as well as pandemic and health emergency preparedness and response, focusing on pharmaceutical policy, life sciences, supply chain resilience, industrial cooperation, and medical countermeasures. Canada and Sweden will also endeavour to share knowledge and best practices in infectious disease monitoring and surveillance, as well as progress we have made towards global disease elimination targets.

Firmly committed to international development, environmental protection, climate action, and clean energy

Canada and Sweden are committed to the implementation of international development priorities and delivering accelerated progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda on Financing for Development, the Paris Agreement, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the Global Framework on Chemicals. As members of the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution, Canada and Sweden share the common ambition of ending plastic pollution by 2040.

Canada and Sweden are committed to advancing global climate action and efforts to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C as set out in the Paris Agreement. Together, we will accelerate action in order to achieve net-zero emissions. This will be done in accordance with our respective national targets and in keeping with the science, including through cooperation on nuclear power, nuclear safety, and clean technologies. In response to shifting geopolitical and geoeconomic dynamics, we will aim to deepen bilateral cooperation and promote the global adoption of advanced technologies in areas such as decarbonized steel, critical minerals, and small modular reactors, thereby supporting a sustainable and resilient future.