Prime Minister Mark Carney is scheduled to travel to Saudi Arabia, where he will meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler, Carney’s office said in a statement.
Bin Salman is who the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 2018 concluded had ordered the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
Carney will travel to Turkey next week to participate in the NATO summit in Ankara, following which he will visit Saudi Arabia between July 8 and 10 for a bilateral visit.
“The Prime Minister and the Crown Prince will deepen the Canada-Saudi Arabia partnership across energy, critical minerals, defence, infrastructure, and investment,” Carney’s office said.
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The Washington Post reported that the CIA came to the conclusion that bin Salman had ordered Khashoggi’s killing after reviewing an array of evidence, including a taped phone call in which the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Khaled bin Salman — younger brother of the crown prince — told Khashoggi to go to the Saudi Consulate to pick up his wedding documents and assured him that he would be safe.
The Wall Street Journal later cited a U.S. official saying Khashoggi’s killing “would not and could not have happened” without bin Salman’s approval, and that the CIA’s conclusions on the Khashoggi killing were based on a thorough understanding of how Saudi Arabia operates.
In 2019, bin Salman told PBS that he bears responsibility for Khashoggi’s killing by Saudi operatives “because it happened under my watch.”
Carney’s visit follows high-profile ministerial visits to the country, first by International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu in January, then by Artificial Intelligence Minister Evan Solomon in February and Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in March.
This will be the first in-person meeting between Carney and bin Salman. Saudi Arabia is Canada’s second-largest trading partner in the Gulf region, with bilateral trade totalling $3.5 billion in 2025, Carney’s office said.
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