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Prime Minister Mark Carney met Sunday with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in his nation’s capital ahead of the European Political Community summit, a gathering touching on strategic co-operation in politics, security and infrastructure.
Canada is the first non-European country to attend these meetings, which have taken place twice a year since they began after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The meetings include EU countries and others, such as Iceland, Turkey and Ukraine itself.
Carney thanked Pashinyan for the invitation to attend the summit during their meeting, saying it comes at a “crucial time” for Europe and European values.
The Prime Minister’s Office said the trip will focus on Ukraine’s defence and drumming up more trade and investment across the continent.
Carney will be in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, until Monday and is set to hold bilateral discussions with numerous world leaders during the summit, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, and President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola.
He will also join a trilateral meeting between European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa, president of the European Council.
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand is also travelling with the prime minister.
Jean-François Ratelle, an international studies professor at the University of Ottawa who specializes in the Caucasus region, said it’s disappointing that the visit doesn’t seem to be aimed at continuing Canada’s years of advocacy for democracy and peace in Armenia.
“We are witnessing a complete change of our foreign policy, and what are our general interests,” Ratelle told The Canadian Press.
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“It’s looking for our own interests and our own opportunities, and not playing that leading role in norms, and what used to define Canada.”
The prime minister’s news release announcing the trip did not touch on the recent history of the Caucasus region. The previous Trudeau government weighed in multiple times on ethnic conflict in the region and often expressed support for the Armenian diaspora in Canada.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought for control of the region of Nagorno-Karabakh. Canada and other countries recognize the region as part of Azerbaijan, despite the region’s population being largely ethnic Armenian.
The conflict has flared up at various points, particularly when Russian peacekeepers thinned out after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Azerbaijan restricted access to the region and eventually launched a military campaign against separatist groups that caused more than 100,000 people to evacuate in 2023, just as Canada opened an embassy in Yerevan.
Canada has spoken out against Azerbaijan’s actions, joined an EU security mission and at one point halted military exports to Turkey over concerns that the country was sending Canadian components to its ally Azerbaijan to be used in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Ottawa also sought to support what it called “fragile” democracies in former Soviet states such as Armenia through, among other things, efforts to counter misinformation.
Ratelle said that work has largely stopped since Carney took office, and there has been little visible work by the embassy in Yerevan to advance democracy.
Carney said Wednesday he had never been to Armenia before. The last prime minister to visit was Justin Trudeau at the Francophonie summit in 2018.
This weekend’s visit comes as Canada works to build trade ties with countries such as Turkey, where Carney is expected to visit for the NATO summit in July.
Ahead of that trip, Anand and others took part in events marking the Armenian genocide, a term rejected by the Turkish government.
Achim Hurrelmann, co-director of the Centre for European Studies at Carleton University, said it seems Carney is attending the conference to advance defence procurement deals with Europe.
“My guess is that he is primarily interested in the opportunity to meet EU leaders, and leaders from especially Ukraine and the U.K., all at once, to try to move toward implementing some of the common initiatives that have been launched with the European Union.”
— With files from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa
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