Australia-Canada Joint Statement

1. The Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, welcomed the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Mark Carney, to Canberra for his first official visit to Australia as Prime Minster. Leaders acknowledged the Ngunnawal people as Traditional Custodians of the lands of the meeting and recognised people and families with connection to the lands of the Australian Capital Territory and region.
2. Leaders recognised the shared values underpinning the close partnership between Australia and Canada including parliamentary democracy, multiculturalism, equality before the law and respect for our First Nations cultures, knowledge and peoples. They welcomed the 40th anniversary of the Canada-Australia Consular Services Sharing Arrangement - a pioneering partnership that expands the reach of where our citizens can access consular support around the world and stands as a concrete demonstration of the deep trust between our two countries. They reaffirmed Australia’s and Canada’s close strategic alignment and steadfast commitment to an open, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific region, and to a world governed by rights and rules, not fear or force.
3. Leaders acknowledged the challenges facing Australia and Canada in a deteriorating geostrategic environment. They noted increasing risks for regional and global stability, as well as national economic resilience and security, posed by sharpening strategic competition. Leaders acknowledged that the close and longstanding friendship between Australia and Canada is a solid foundation for enhanced strategic collaboration as we seek to promote and protect our national interests in a complex global environment.

Advancing Economic Security and Prosperity

4. Leaders reiterated that building strong domestic economies, underpinned by fair, open and predictable global trade, is fundamental to enabling greater prosperity for both countries. They welcomed the upcoming 10th iteration of the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum to be held in Vancouver in May of this year and recognised the valuable contribution of connecting business leaders between the two countries.  Leaders noted unprecedented challenges to global economic frameworks that have underpinned our common prosperity for decades. Leaders tasked their Ministers to work closely together and with others to address these challenges.
5. Leaders agreed to establish formal talks between economic portfolio Ministers at the earliest opportunity, and on a regular basis, to identify pathways and projects to deepen cooperation and advance a shared vision for prosperity, security and resilience at home and in the Indo-Pacific region.
   • Meetings of the Australian Treasurer and Canadian Minister for Finance and National Revenue, supported by senior officials, will seek to strengthen collaboration in tax and two-way investment, discuss economic security and key macroeconomic developments and work together on economic reforms to strengthen internal resilience.
   • Meetings of the Industry Ministers, supported by senior officials, will seek to enhance industrial policy and economic security cooperation.
6. Leaders committed to promoting cooperation between regulators that helps to facilitate access to safe, effective and efficient agricultural inputs, including feeds, fertilizers, crop protection products, and pest control technologies, in both jurisdictions. These arrangements of inputs would aim to leverage the environmental, health and safety assessments conducted by either country to support the authorization of products that advanced economic prosperity and food security, and bolster trade, while ensuring the protection of human and animal health and the environment.
7. Leaders committed to modernising the Australia-Canada Tax Treaty to facilitate greater investment, including joint investments, in nation-building projects in both countries. Both countries agreed to prioritise the negotiations. As two countries with large pension funds, Leaders welcomed enhanced collaboration between the financial sectors in Australia and Canada, including an MoU between IFM, Canadian Pension funds and Australian Superannuation Funds signed in Sydney on 4 March and an invitation to a senior delegation of Australian Superannuation Funds to visit Canada in 2026.
8. Leaders welcomed the signing of the new Australia-Canada Clean Energy Partnership. Through this Partnership, Australia and Canada will strengthen cooperation to unlock new two-way trade and investment opportunities across clean energy sectors, scale-up clean energy technologies, modernise electricity grids, and build secure and sustainable clean energy supply chains. This collaboration will help create jobs, drive economic growth, and reduce emissions in energy systems as both countries advance toward net-zero. The Partnership will also complement Australia and Canada’s existing cooperation on climate and energy, including through Australia’s role as COP31 President of Negotiations.
9. To protect communities from the harms and promote opportunities of artificial intelligence, Leaders welcomed enhanced collaboration between Australia’s Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute and Canada’s Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute under a new MoU. This MoU will deepen information exchange on AI technologies, joint work to advance AI evaluation, measurement, and mitigation, as well as facilitate exchanges of talent between the two countries.
10. Leaders agreed that Canada and Australia will explore opportunities for enhanced regulatory cooperation and further collaboration across sectors of mutual interest. They noted the value of continued dialogue between regulatory authorities to share best practices, support alignment where appropriate, and identify areas where cooperation could help strengthen economic security and promote inclusive, sustainable growth. Leaders emphasised that this exploratory work will remain flexible and non-binding, allowing both countries to advance cooperation at a pace and scope that reflects shared priorities.
11. Leaders welcomed the renewed pandemic preparedness contract between the Public Health Agency of Canada and CSL Seqirus to deliver 15 million doses of cell-based adjuvanted influenza vaccine, from CSL’s manufacturing facility in Victoria, Australia in the event of an influenza pandemic being declared. This pandemic vaccine readiness contract will help protect Canadians against future pandemic events and demonstrates how Australian and Canadian science and health collaboration is supporting our health and economic security, supply chain resilience, and pandemic preparedness. Leaders were further pleased to welcome the MoU signed between the Business Council of Australia and the Business Council of Canada on 5 March, 2026, to facilitate greater trade and investment and facilitate meaningful business leader engagement.
12. The Leaders welcomed progress under the Australia–Canada–India Technology and Innovation (ACITI) Partnership and noted the recent meeting of the AI Ministers of the three countries on the margins of the AI Summit in New Delhi. They agreed to develop a joint workplan to advance practical trilateral cooperation in artificial intelligence and digital technologies and underscored the potential for deeper collaboration across digital infrastructure, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, high-performance computing, Internet-of-Things (IoT), cybersecurity, and startup ecosystems. The Leaders further agreed to strengthen policy and regulatory exchanges to advance AI sovereignty, inclusivity, access and trustworthiness; promote AI adoption and related business-to-business partnerships; and advance joint capacity-building through skills development, training, and knowledge-sharing, with a view to fostering trusted innovation ecosystems and delivering tangible outcomes. The Leaders welcomed the codification of this work through the signing of a trilateral Australia-Canada-India MOU on Cooperation in Technology and Innovation.

Strengthening Mutual Interests in Critical Minerals

13. Leaders noted Australia and Canada’s combined strengths as major global critical minerals producers and committed to working more purposefully in partnership to advance our mutual interests and promote thriving, dynamic global critical minerals supply chains. Leaders committed to pursuing common positions on key critical minerals issues, working together to shape emerging markets in ways that reflect our shared commitment to fair and open trade, and high environmental and labour standards. Leaders were pleased to confirm Australia had also joined the G7 Critical Minerals Production Alliance.
14. Leaders committed to strengthening and deepening collaboration in relation to critical minerals investments, standards and between Australia’s Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve and Canada’s Critical Minerals Sovereign Fund. They welcomed the signing of the Joint Declaration of Intent on Critical Minerals Cooperation in November 2025 under which Australia and Canada are working to strengthen supply chain resilience. Leaders were pleased to confirm Resources Ministers will meet annually to drive progress on areas of cooperation as outlined in the Joint Declaration of Intent.
15. Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to sharing technical expertise related to mapping critical minerals deposits and improving extraction and processing capabilities, strengthening our respective domestic critical minerals sectors and enabling growth.
16. Leaders welcomed the development of a Canada-Australia Mining Skills Exchange Pilot, in collaboration with industry stakeholders, academic institutions, and government partners across Canada and Australia, to address key skills and labour shortages and ensure allied ability to expand critical minerals production.

Deepening Defence and Security Cooperation

17. Recognising the significant security challenges of our times, and the interconnected nature of Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security, Leaders agreed to enhance defence and security cooperation, including through the establishment of a biennial Defence Ministers’ Meeting. Ministers of Defence will be supported by regular senior officials’ talks focused on identifying pathways for greater defence collaboration to uphold international peace and security by deterring threats to our shared security and intelligence interests. 
18. Leaders reaffirmed their commitment for Australia and Canada to collaborate on the development of Over-the-Horizon Radar (OTHR) technology in support of fielding an Arctic-OTHR system in Canada, bringing together Australia’s world-leading Jindalee Operational Radar Network (JORN) technology with Canada’s expertise in operating high-frequency radar in the Arctic. Leaders were pleased to note the upcoming training of Canadian operators on the use of the radar system in Australia and welcomed concrete progress made towards finalizing a government-to-government arrangement. As part of this shared endeavour, leaders reaffirmed their intent for Australia and Canada to jointly develop advanced technology and intellectual property under our deepening strategic relationship, with long-term benefits for both of our defence industrial bases.
19. Leaders underscored the value of the long-standing Australia-Canada defence and security science, technology and innovation partnership and committed to continued cooperation to address emerging and disruptive technologies. They also recognised the need to create the conditions for more seamless defence industrial collaboration. To this end, Australia and Canada will continue exploring mutually beneficial options to facilitate collaboration on advanced military capabilities, strengthen defence trade, boost Research and Development innovation, and science and technology cooperation, noting the importance of the defence and dual-use industry to our domestic economies as both countries expand their defence capabilities. 
20. Leaders committed to seek opportunities to enhance and formalise interoperability and the conduct of combined military activities in the Indo-Pacific in support of freedom of navigation and overflight, and to deepen intelligence cooperation, including through regular exchange of personnel and enhanced training on common platforms. To support this, Ministerial talks will explore concrete mechanisms to facilitate the movement of defence personnel and equipment between our countries and remove unnecessary barriers to operational collaboration, and as such, have agreed to initiate discussions on establishing a Status of Forces Agreement.
21. Leaders acknowledged deep cooperation on border security, policing, and law enforcement, including efforts to combat illicit trafficking and transnational crime while facilitating the secure movement of legitimate trade and travel, and welcomed the entry into force in 2026 of the Canada-Australia Customs Mutual Assistance Agreement.
22. Leaders also agreed to continue cooperation on countering emerging threats such as foreign information manipulation and other forms of foreign interference, bilaterally and multilaterally through the G7 Rapid Response Mechanism. These efforts will allow Australia and Canada to place their collective weight towards regional stability.

Strengthening Institutions, Building Resilient Communities

23. Acknowledging the contributions of Canadian and Australian firefighters to both countries, Leaders discussed efforts to strengthen disaster resilience and preparedness and welcomed the Joint Declaration of Intent between Australia’s National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) and Public Safety Canada which elevates the existing MoU on emergency management and disaster risk reduction and enables opportunity for cooperation on training and development, information exchanges, and collaboration on research and innovation.
24. Leaders agreed to advance civil space cooperation, building on the existing MoU between the Canadian Space Agency and the Australian Space Agency, including collaborating on Earth observation missions, which will support bush and wildfire monitoring internationally through satellite imaging and data sharing.
25. Leaders agreed to reinvigorate the Canada-Australia Public Policy Initiative to foster exchanges between senior officials on priority policy issues, including government modernisation and social cohesion, online harm, and trust in democratic institutions.
26. Leaders welcomed collaboration on shared polar science priorities, including in climate systems, biodiversity, human impacts and coordination in environment monitoring. Enhanced annual senior officials’ engagement will advance cooperation on strategic issues in the polar regions.