Hello, everyone.

Well, it’s been a highly productive visit to Doha, and I want to thank His Highness, Sheikh Tamim bin Al Thani, for the warm hospitality, and for the depth of the conversations and the progress we’ve made. This is the first ever visit by a sitting Canadian Prime Minister to Qatar; it marks a new era for our relationship; one in which we move from being close friends to strategic partners.

Canada and Qatar are natural partners with a developing friendship. We share a number of values, complementary strengths, and mutual ambitions. This alignment forms the basis of the new strategic partnership we are building, a partnership that will ensure greater stability, predictability, and prosperity for both Canadians and Qataris.

In an increasingly dangerous and divided world, Qatar is an effective, expansive, and important force for peace. Our relationship has been forged over many years, and by profound acts of friendship. Qatar helped evacuate more than 200 Canadians from Afghanistan in 2021, as the Taliban took power. During the pandemic, Qatar Airways played a vital role, repatriating more than 15,000 Canadians from over 10 countries. Qatar has provided enormous humanitarian aid to Gaza and has opened channels for Canada and other countries to do so. They have successfully reunited children with their families, separated by Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine. And are providing food to the Sudanese people, shelter, medical supplies amid that ongoing, devastating, humanitarian crisis. Canada and the world is grateful for Qatar’s leadership and partnership, and I know we will continue to work together, on these missions and in others, in the shared pursuit of peace, stability, and security.

Now, as I think we all know, the global landscape is changing rapidly, leaving businesses and workers in a state of uncertainty. These changes are also undermining the effectiveness of our multilateral institutions on which middle powers, like Canada and Qatar have historically relied. And in response, Canada is focused on what we can control: securing new trade investment partnerships, so we’re not reliant on a single country, but are stronger and more resilient to global shocks.

We are doubling our exports to non-U.S. markets over the next decade – an increase of about $300 billion. We are also catalyzing $1 trillion in new investments in Canada – in housing, major projects, defence technologies, artificial intelligence and quantum, critical minerals, and clean energy. We have already, already established a dozen new economic security partnerships across four continents. We are attracting unprecedented new investments.

My colleagues and I arrived here yesterday from Beijing, where we had just secured a new trade agreement that, at first blush, will help unlock more than $7 billion in export markets for Canadian farmers, ranchers, fish harvesters, and agri-food workers across our country. This is the beginning, also, of a new strategic partnership between Canada and China. A partnership that deepens collaborations in areas such as energy, clean technology, agri-food, and financial services. A partnership that will increase trade and catalyze new investment. Tomorrow, I will go to Davos, Switzerland, where I will meet with leaders in commerce, technology, and global governance.

Our partnerships differ in terms of their focus, scope, and scale, but they all have the same objective: to create more stability, security, and prosperity for Canada and our partners.

Qatar is deeply connected to the world, economically diverse, and a leader on the world stage. Nearly 10,000 Canadians live and work in Qatar. Our bilateral trade is increasing rapidly: Qatar accounts for nearly half of Canadian exports, driven mainly by aerospace and advanced manufacturing. Today, Qatar’s investments in Canada are increasing nearly 20% annually, and we are now building our relationship and making it more aligned, moving from friends to close strategic partners.

To launch this new chapter in our relationship, I’m pleased to announce that Qatar has committed to make significant strategic investments in Canada’s nation-building projects. This capital will help the projects get built faster and supercharge our energy industries, while helping to create thousands of high-paying careers for Canadians. We’re also announcing an ambitious new partnership, while we deepen our ties across trade, investment, defence, and A.I. After years of stalled negotiations, we’re prioritizing a new investment promotion and protection agreement, which we’ll finalize by this summer. This agreement will enable Canadian businesses to more easily expand their operations in and attract investment from this dynamic $290-billion economy. Following Ramadan, representatives from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund will visit Canada to explore new investment opportunities. And in the coming months, a delegation of Canada’s leading pension funds will visit here to do the same.

We are establishing a new commission on economic, commercial, and technical cooperation to facilitate and strengthen business ties. We will identify co-investment opportunities in artificial intelligence, aerospace, quantum computing, cybersecurity, and information technologies.

We’re launching negotiations on a new double-taxation agreement to make it easier for Canadians to work and invest in Qatar, and vice versa. And we’re deepening our defence relationship with joint training, expertise sharing, industrial partnerships, and military exchanges. Canada will also establish a defence attaché here in Doha to further opportunities to partner in defence, joining Canadian forces in this country.

When the people of different countries are familiar with each other’s cultures and perspectives, they are enriched, and they trust each other more. They also want to do more together to build together. And to that end, Canada and Qatar are strengthening our people-to-people ties and our cultural ties. This year, Qatar begins its year of culture, building lasting relationships through cultural, educational, business, and creative exchanges. Canada, to further these efforts, will expand our air transport agreement to increase direct flights to this country, which will also lead to more tourism and business between our nations. Finally, in the spirit, cultural exchange, I’ve extended an invitation to His Highness to visit Canada, as our two countries face off in our first – I’m not sure face off… kick off – in our first-ever World Cup match this June in Vancouver. On that note, I also want to thank Qatar and His Highness for the offer to share security expertise that they gained in hosting the World Cup. I had the privilege to cheer on Team Canada here; I can report that my heart rate, according to my watch, hit a new record when Alphonso Davis put it in the net for Canada. We look forward to continuing success in the new year as host.

Our two countries have much in common: we’re both resource-based economies, we have complementary strengths in technology, security, and defence. We’ve long been friends, we’ve often worked together to pursue peace, security, and stability in the world, and now, through shared ambition, we’re working to diversify our trade, commerce, investment, to help build clean energy, health A.I., and defence capabilities, and to forge a new strategic partnership. In this more uncertain and dangerous world, we’ve chosen to create greater stability, security, and prosperity together.