Canada and Sweden Sign Strategic Partnership As Royal Family Visits Ottawa

Canada and Sweden announced they have established a “strategic partnership” that will entail enhanced military and Arctic cooperation.

The agreement was signed as Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia arrived in Ottawa on Nov. 18 and were welcomed at Rideau Hall. They met with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said in a statement that the new “Canada-Sweden Strategic Partnership” will “drive growth in Canada with transformational new opportunities for our industries and high-paying careers for our workers.”

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said in a statement that both countries are NATO allies and Arctic nations with shared interests, and will strengthen their ties in areas like trade, investment, economic development, science and research, climate and energy, and defence.

The agreement is not legally binding and does not come with any new funding from Ottawa.

The PMO says that the partnership is important given Russia’s war against Ukraine, and Canada and Sweden will enhance military cooperation, push to develop security guarantees for Ukraine that include allowing it to enter NATO, and “cooperate closely to constrain and contest Russia’s aggressive actions and counter its ability to conduct destabilising activities.”

While Sweden has historically been a “neutral” nation in international affairs, it became the latest country to join NATO in 2024. Both Sweden and Finland applied to join the defence alliance following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, and Finland was accepted in 2023.

The PMO states that the “prosperity and security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are inextricably linked,” and that the two countries will increase cooperation in the region.

When it comes to military cooperation, Canada and Sweden will deepen its partnerships on military and civilian training exercises, defence industrial cooperation and research and development, logistics support, and “climate-security nexus.”

The PMO said the agreement will connect Canadian and Swedish industries and workers in sectors related to critical minerals, manufacturing, forestry, research, clean power, pharmaceuticals, and defence.

The agreement will also involve cooperation on net-zero initiatives, including “mitigation, adaptation and finance, and with a focus on measures and technologies to close the ambition gap and advance implementation of national climate plans.” Plastic pollution, promoting clean energy and nuclear power, and responding to natural disasters will also be a focus of the partnership.

Industry Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters this week that the Liberal government is in discussions with the Swedish defence company Saab about potentially ordering a fleet of its Gripen fighter jets, which could result in a new manufacturing facility and 10,000 aerospace manufacturing jobs coming to Canada.

Joly said Canada’s current $27 billion contract for Lockheed Martin’s F-35 stealth fighter jets, to be made in the United States, doesn’t deliver enough economic benefits for Canada. The Liberal government announced in 2023 that it would procure 88 F-35 jets to update Canada’s aging CF-18 Hornet fleet, but Prime Minister Mark Carney asked for a review of the deal in March after the United States imposed tariffs on Canada.