Prime Minister Carney elevates partnership with Australia in critical minerals, defence, and artificial intelligence

CANBERRA, Australia, March 4, 2026 /CNW/ - In a rapidly changing world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are building our economic strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad. Australia is a natural partner in this mission. We are long-standing, reliable partners with a common parliamentary system and a shared respect for democracy. We are federations backed by strong resource and agricultural economies, with ambitions to diversify and build. By working more closely together, we can create stability, security, and prosperity for our peoples.

To those ends, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, travelled to Sydney and Canberra, Australia, this week. In Canberra, Prime Minister Carney met with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, marking the first bilateral visit of a Canadian Prime Minister to Australia in nearly two decades. The leaders released a joint statement outlining new partnerships in investment, defence and security, critical minerals, energy, and artificial intelligence (AI). Prime Minister Carney also accepted the invitation to address the Australian Parliament, where he spoke about the enduring ties between Canada and Australia and the two countries' potential to build economic growth together.

During the visit, Canada welcomed Australia into the Critical Minerals Production Alliance – an initiative launched under Canada's G7 Presidency in 2025 to expand critical minerals production and processing capacity and diversify supply chains from mine to market. Both Canada and Australia hold vast reserves of critical minerals that are key to defence, manufacturing, and technologies, including batteries, cars, and the AI systems of the future. Closer collaboration with Australia will boost bilateral investment – creating high-paying careers in mining, harnessing clean energy opportunities, and strengthening security and defence. The leaders also launched a new Clean Energy Partnership to catalyse new trade and investment opportunities, scale-up clean energy technologies, and modernise electricity grids.

Australia is Canada's largest defence partner in the Indo-Pacific. We are focused on growing our relationship and increasing cooperation across military exercises, procurement, and intelligence. To bolster these ties, the training of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel on the Arctic Over-the-Horizon Radar (A-OTHR) system will begin in Australia in mid-2026 – enabling Canada to better detect and deter threats across the Arctic. The A-OTHR system is a key component of Canada's North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) modernisation plan and will provide advanced early warning, enable faster detection and decision making by the CAF for airborne threats, and provide long-range surveillance to meet Canada's domestic and continental security needs. Canada and Australia are also committed to exploring concrete mechanisms to facilitate the movement of defence equipment and personnel between our two countries, as well as removing unnecessary barriers to operational collaboration by initiating discussions on establishing a Status of Forces Agreement.

Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese agreed to advance industrial collaboration to enable greater integration of our defence sectors and streamline procurement and innovation. To this end, Canada and Australia are identifying mutually beneficial options to strengthen defence trade, industrial collaboration, and cooperation on advanced technologies. This could include reduced export controls, reciprocal intellectual property sharing, and the co-production of military capabilities.

Canada and Australia will also intensify coordination to tackle criminal networks, smuggling, foreign intelligence manipulation, and cybercrimes, undertake joint efforts to safeguard the Arctic, and expand cooperation on emergency management and disaster risk reduction. This depth and breadth of cooperation will help ensure our security, emergency response, and law enforcement officials are well equipped to tackle a wide array of threats.

Both Canada and Australia are rapidly scaling up sovereign AI, compute capabilities, and other emerging technologies. To accelerate each other's efforts, Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese welcomed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on AI Safety. The agreement will enable greater collaboration between Canada and Australia's AI safety institutes, including to share expertise.

In parallel, Canada, Australia, and India will advance a MOU under the Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation Partnership, to formalise strengthened collaboration on the development and deployment of AI – connecting our industries, advancing trade missions, and enabling private-sector partnerships to create opportunities for our businesses, including small and medium-sized businesses and start-ups.

In Sydney, Prime Minister Carney welcomed a MOU to deepen investment cooperation between Canadian pension funds and Australian superannuation funds – removing barriers to investment and supporting nation-building projects at home. This will advance Canada's mission to mobilise $1 trillion in total investments over the next five years. While in Australia, Prime Minister Carney met with business leaders and Australian pension fund executives who collectively manage nearly $7 trillion in capital to identify key sectors with immense investment potential. During the visit, the IFM announced their intention to invest up to $10 billion in Canada. Prime Minister Carney and Prime Minister Albanese also agreed to launch negotiations to modernise the Canada-Australia Tax Treaty. This updated treaty will facilitate increased two-way investment between Canada and Australia.

In an increasingly uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are attracting massive investment at home, increasing partnerships with allies like Australia, and building a stronger, more independent Canadian economy.

Quote

"Canada and Australia are more than friends – we are family, with shared histories, values, and cultures. As Canada forges new partnerships and coalitions abroad, Australia is a natural partner in this mission. By working closely together in energy, critical minerals, investment, defence, and AI to move faster in these endeavours, we will create more opportunities for our peoples."
-- The Rt. Hon. Mark Carney, Prime Minister of Canada

Quick facts

• This was Prime Minister Carney's first official visit to Australia since taking office. He was accompanied by the Minister of National Defence, David J. McGuinty, and the Minister of Finance and National Revenue, François-Philippe Champagne.
• The Indo-Pacific is the most economically dynamic area in the world – it accounts for over a third of global GDP, is home to 54% of the world's population, and is the fastest-growing region on Earth.
• The visit followed the Prime Minister's engagements in India, where he announced a broad range of initiatives that will renew and expand the Canada-India partnership across energy and critical minerals, technology and AI, talent and culture, and defence.
• Collaboration between Canada and Australia on the shared priorities outlined during this trip will be supported by regular meetings of the countries' Economic, Industry, Natural Resources, and Defence ministers.
• Further to the signing of a MOU between Canadian pension funds and Australian superannuation funds, Canada has invited Australian superannuation funds to visit Canada to identify investment opportunities, including in AI and advanced technologies.
• In 2025, bilateral goods trade between Canada and Australia totalled $7.8 billion and bilateral services trade was valued at $4.6 billion. In 2024, Australia was the largest destination in the Indo-Pacific for Canadian direct investment, which totalled $58.8 billion, while Australia's direct investment into Canada reached $27 billion. With its strong focus on Asia and its favourable business climate, Australia as a springboard to Southeast Asian markets for many Canadian companies.
• Canada and Australia are both members of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) – a free trade agreement that represents 595 million consumers and 1% of global GDP.

Related products

• Joint statement by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese MP
• Backgrounder: Prime Minister Carney elevates partnership with Australia in critical minerals, defence, and artificial intelligence
• Prime Minister Carney meets with Prime Minister of Australia Anthony Albanese

Associated link

• Canada-Australia relations

This document is also available at https://pm.gc.ca

SOURCE Prime Minister's Office

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