CANADA / ICELAND – Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, yesterday concluded his visit to Iceland, where he met with the leaders of Iceland, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland to continue strengthening ties and advancing key mutual priorities. The Nordic leaders focused on security in Europe and the Arctic, and reform and reconstruction in Ukraine, while fighting climate change, driving economic growth that benefits everyone, creating good middle-class jobs, and making life more affordable for people. The prime minister was invited to attend as a special guest, the prime minister’s office – communications announced.
“While in Iceland, the prime minister endorsed a joint Canada-Nordic Leaders’ statement focused on enhancing co-operation in priority areas, including peace and security, climate action, and democracy and human rights. As transatlantic partners, the Nordic countries and Canada share inherent interests in our region and beyond as like-minded partners and friends.
“In the face of the evolving internal security situation in Russia, the prime minister and the Nordic leaders reiterated their continued support for Ukraine. As the world continues to face the consequences of Russia’s brutal and unjustifiable invasion, Canada and the Nordic leaders affirmed their shared unwavering commitment to standing up for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders for as long as it takes. They welcomed the agreement on the new International Centre for Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine (ICPA) in The Hague.
“The leaders expressed support for the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court’s investigations, as well as the Core Group’s ongoing work, to explore establishing a tribunal for the crime of aggression.”
Prime Minister Trudeau, said:
“Canada and Nordic countries are united in our values, friendship, and shared priorities. As we face an increasingly challenging and uncertain world, we must work together to strengthen our partnership and advance reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples, human rights, protecting the environment, and finding new economic opportunities for our businesses and workers. Above all, we put people at the centre of everything we do, and I look forward to building on our partnerships for the benefit of all our countries.”
According to PMO media relations, prime minister Trudeau underlined Canada’s efforts to strengthen democratic resilience and address challenges such as foreign interference, cyber incidents, online harms, disinformation, assaults on democracy, and emergency management. The prime minister highlighted Canada’s leadership of the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism, which fights misinformation and disinformation, and our efforts to support media freedom and advance responsible business conduct for Canadian companies operating abroad, and our joint efforts through the Freedom Online Coalition. He stressed the importance for Canada and Nordic countries to continue to work together to counter cyber threats, promote stability in cyberspace, uphold the rules-based international order, and impose costs on those who engage in malicious cyber activity.
Prime Minister Trudeau, also emphasized the need for increased collaboration to better protect our oceans. Canada is an advocate for oceans through our work to set high standards for ocean conservation; highlighted Canadian conservation efforts, including advocating for a high level of ambition on ocean conservation through the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF), where Canada played a key role, and advancing the recognition and use of nature-based solutions to address both climate change and biodiversity loss.
“Canada and the Nordic leaders committed to continue to work together to advance global climate action to grow our economies and create good middle-class jobs. They agreed that pollution pricing is a very efficient way to do just that. The prime minister reiterated Canada’s call for all countries to adopt carbon pricing and work toward a collective goal of covering 60 percent of global emissions by 2030 as outlined in the Global Carbon Pricing Challenge.
The prime minister emphasized Canada as a like-minded partner for the Nordic region, stating, “We share many of the objectives outlined under the Nordic’s Vision 2030, including the commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. “
Prime Minister Trudeau positioned Canada as a trading partner of choice, particularly because of our growing clean economy, robust trade agreements, commitment to diverse and inclusive trade, and responsible business conduct abroad, and underscored Canada’s interest in responsibly and sustainably developing natural resources, while moving to a low-carbon economy.
Highlighting Canada’s interest in partnering in the research and development of advanced technologies in carbon capture and storage and clean hydrogen, and on best practices for accelerating energy system transformations that cut emissions, prime minister Trudeau “underlined the Sustainable Critical Minerals Strategy as Canada’s blueprint to fostering resilient supply chains in the critical raw materials required to produce electric vehicle batteries and other clean technologies.”
