Today, the Prime Minister, Mark Carney, met with the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, during the President’s visit to Canada. This is the first visit to Canada by a Finnish president in 12 years.

Following the success of last month’s Canada-Nordic Summit in Oslo, Norway, Prime Minister Carney and President Stubb discussed the importance of like-minded countries working together to ensure shared security and economic prosperity. The leaders issued a joint statement.

As the first pillar of cooperation, Canada and Finland will strengthen collaboration on Arctic science, research, and maritime security. To this end, Canada and Finland welcomed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen cooperation in maritime capabilities and industrial partnerships.

Second, Prime Minister Carney and President Stubb committed to increased cooperation on advanced technologies to deliver shared economic benefits, grow capacity, and reduce dependencies in an increasingly contested digital landscape. As part of this effort, Canada and Finland signed a joint statement to strengthen cooperation on sovereign technology and artificial intelligence (AI). Canada and Finland will collaborate on research and innovation in high-performance computing and AI, enabling AI adoption across industry and government, and identifying investment opportunities that scale up small and medium-sized enterprises.

The leaders welcomed the signing of a MOU between Export Development Canada and Nokia to support Nokia’s efforts to build AI gigafactories. Canada and Finland will also expand collaboration across quantum research, innovation, commercialisation, and workforce development – including through a Canadian quantum trade mission to Finland. The leaders committed to strengthening linkages across the broader Canadian-Finnish quantum ecosystem, including among universities, research institutions, startups, and established technology firms. The leaders also underscored enhanced cooperation on resource development, including critical minerals, to support the global energy transition.

Finally, as NATO Allies and close partners, the leaders reaffirmed their commitment to investing 5% of GDP in defence and security by 2035. Canada and Finland announced the launch of negotiations on a General Security of Information Agreement between our countries to strengthen intelligence-sharing, deepen defence cooperation, and open opportunities for our industries.

Prime Minister Carney emphasised the opportunities to deepen Canada’s commercial ties with Finland, including by leveraging the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

Prime Minister Carney and President Stubb agreed to remain in close contact.

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