Carney heads to Abu Dhabi as alarm grows over possible UAE role in Sudan’s civil war

By Canadian Press on November 19, 2025.

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is on his way to Abu Dhabi today, making him the first Canadian prime minister to visit the United Arab Emirates since 1983.

His visit comes as Ottawa tries to drum up investment from sovereign wealth funds and the private sector to help diversify Canada’s economy in response to the U.S. trade war.

Carney is expected to meet with senior government and business leaders in the UAE — a country Ottawa has relied on increasingly in its attempts to broker peace between Israelis and Palestinians and for multiple development projects.

But his visit comes amid reports the UAE has been arming a paramilitary force accused of escalating ethnic violence in Sudan — reports the UAE government has strenuously denied.

Janice Stein, founding director of the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, said the visit offers Canada an opportunity to secure Emirati investment and tap the country’s growing expertise in artificial intelligence.

Carney has no press conference scheduled in Abu Dhabi, where the government is restricting media access to bilateral meetings that are generally open to the press during prime ministerial visits to most countries.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 19, 2025.

Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press