Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is making the first official bilateral visit by a Canadian leader to Türkiye on Wednesday.
Carney will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss political, diplomatic and defence cooperation in Ankara before travelling to Istanbul to meet with members of the Turkish business community operating in aviation, advanced technologies and critical minerals.
The visit, running Wednesday to Friday, follows the diplomatic momentum gained at the NATO summit in Ankara in July, when Türkiye and Canada launched talks on a free trade agreement.
Turkish Trade Minister Omer Bolat and Canadian International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu discussed the energy sector and nuclear energy initiatives as areas for cooperation in June.
The two nations are targeting a short-term bilateral trade volume of $7 billion to $8 billion and a long-term target of $10 billion following a successful free trade agreement.
Total trade volume between Türkiye and Canada exceeded $2.7 billion last year, including $1.5 billion in Turkish exports to Canada and $1.1 billion in Canadian exports to Türkiye.
Boilers, machinery, mechanical appliances and tools were the largest Turkish exports to Canada in 2025, accounting for $158.7 million, followed by iron and steel at $104.4 million and iron and steel products at nearly $97.1 million.
In January-August 2026, Turkish exports of boilers, machinery, mechanical appliances and tools totalled $96 million, followed by aluminium and aluminium products at $73.8 million and fresh fruits and nuts at $49.5 million.
As for investments, the countries maintained an asymmetrical relationship, as Canada’s direct investments in Türkiye totalled $2.3 billion (3.3 billion Canadian dollars) as of 2025, while Turkish investments in Canada stood at just $165.8 million (233 million Canadian dollars) during the same period, according to Statistics Canada.
Meanwhile, the growing bilateral relationship between the two countries was reflected in the tourism sector, as the number of Canadian visitors to Türkiye rose 6.1% year-on-year to 321,271 in 2025.
In the first eight months of 2026, Canadian tourist arrivals to Türkiye rose 2.9% year-on-year, reaching 209,176.
