Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada is ready to help return the ships to the Strait of Hormuz if the success announced in the negotiations between Iran and the US is achieved.
Carney arrived in France for the G7 summit on Monday, a day after US President Donald Trump announced an agreement to end the US war with Iran.
Trump announced the deal on Sunday and said he had approved an end to the US blockade of the Strait of Hormuz – imposed after Iran began its own blockade of many container ships passing through the key trade corridor.
The president later said the strait would not open until Friday, when the agreement was officially signed.
Speaking to reporters on the tarmac in Ireland on Monday before flying to Geneva, Carney said he will have an opportunity at the G7 to see what Canada and other countries can do to help strengthen the proposed deal.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says Canada and other countries at the G7 meeting will have the opportunity to see what they can do to “strengthen” the progress seen in the cooperation agreement aimed at ending hostilities between the US and Israel and Iran.
“Canada very much welcomes this progress,” he said.
He told reporters that the situation in the Middle East “underlines” the need to make infrastructure systems capable of withstanding the shocks that conflict can create. He said this discussion will also take place at the G7.
Carney met with French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday in Paris.
He then spent the weekend in Ireland, meeting Taoiseach Micheál Martin in Dublin before traveling to the west of Ireland, where he met President Catherine Connolly and visited the village his grandparents moved from more than a century ago.
Prime Minister Mark Carney received a hometown welcome in Aughgower, Ireland, when he visited the village where three of his grandparents were born. Carney made a trip to Ireland ahead of the G7 summit in France.
Carney arrived in Geneva mid-afternoon and traveled by helicopter to a meeting point in Évian-les-Bains in the French Alps. He was received at the airport by several people, including Jean-Paul Lemieux, Canada’s ambassador to Switzerland, and Canada’s Ambassador to France Natalie Drouin.
Later on Monday, the prime minister is scheduled to meet with European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, before attending a dinner on national and economic issues.
Carney and the leaders of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement on the agreement between the US and Iran on Monday.
“This is a time of opportunity to restore stability to the region and stabilize the global economy,” the statement said.
The statement said it was “vital” that detailed negotiations be concluded and that the agreement be implemented quickly and fully.
The leaders said they would support that effort.
They also said the Strait of Hormuz must be opened to shipping and committed to playing their part in making that happen “with a strong and independent defense mission to ensure commercial shipping and carry out mine clearance operations.”
“Iran must never get a nuclear weapon,” the statement said. “We are ready to cooperate with the US, Iran and the (International Atomic Energy Agency) until now. We are willing to remove the appropriate sanctions because of clear and verifiable steps by Iran on its nuclear program.”
The leaders said they would work with the US, Iran and regional partners to “seize the moment, seize the momentum and find a long-term deal.”
“We reaffirm our full support for the stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Lebanon and the importance of a strong ceasefire,” they said.
Israel has stepped up its military operations in Lebanon since the start of the war with Iran, occupying land and bombing in an incident that has killed 3,800 people and displaced an estimated 1.2 million others.
Carney said in a statement on social media that Canada stressed that a long-term ceasefire must ensure safe and unhindered passage through the Strait of Hormuz and address the “full threat” of Iran’s nuclear program.
“As negotiations continue, we urge all parties to continue to negotiate in good faith and avoid escalation,” said Carney.
While in Ireland at the weekend, the prime minister told Irish news agency RTE that the war in Iran was “the number one topic” at the G7, adding that the war in Ukraine was also an important issue.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend the conference.
Trump arrived in Geneva shortly after Carney. The leaders of Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea are also willing to participate.
Although it is not known whether Carney will meet privately with Trump, Canada-US Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer are expected to communicate on the sidelines of the summit.
Macron held this summit – his last as head of state – under the theme of tackling economic inequality.
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he is not worried about the conflicting agenda between the partners attending the G7 summit in France. ‘There will be problems where there will be more extreme views of one of our G7 partners than others … each of us can have examples of that,’ said Carney.
Carney told reporters in Ireland that artificial intelligence standards and regulations will also be part of the discussions.
France has said the conference will not end with joint negotiations – a document that has been regularly released throughout the conference but has been difficult to produce due to growing political divisions. France says it will instead issue a series of statements during the conference.
Swiss and French authorities have deployed thousands of police to provide security for the three-day conference. Ahead of the rally, authorities in Geneva blocked roads, banned unauthorized gatherings and promised financial support to businesses that could be hit by protests.
On Saturday, a flotilla of about 20 boats appeared in Lake Geneva off the coast of Évian displaying anti-G7 and pro-Palestinian banners. On Sunday, the afternoon march drew an estimated 20,000 protesters.
Children’s online safety will also be on the agenda at the conference.
Earlier this month, the Liberal government introduced an online harassment bill that includes a plan to force social media companies to ban children under 16 from their platforms. Bill C-34 will also regulate AI chatbots.
International support for age restrictions on social media has been growing since Australia became the first country to introduce such a ban. Many countries, including Malaysia, Brazil, Indonesia, France, Spain, Denmark, Thailand and South Korea, have introduced or are considering similar measures.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced on Monday that his government is working to prevent access to social media by children under the age of 16.
The Liberal government will also introduce a new privacy bill this week that it says will include the protection of children’s data. It is expected to include measures to ensure that Canadians’ data is not used for price surveillance.
The G7 includes Canada, France, the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy. The European Union is also participating in the negotiations, although the bloc cannot be counted in the name of the group.
