OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney is set to travel to Europe next week to enhance economic and security relations with Germany. Carney announced on Friday that he will meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on Tuesday.

"Canada has a good partnership with Germany. It’s been built up over the years, but it can be much, much better and I’m confident that with this chancellor, and the focus of our government, that it will," Carney stated.

During the visit, Carney plans to continue discussions initiated earlier this year with Merz. The two leaders first met in Rome during the spring and later at the G7 summit in Alberta. Carney aims to explore opportunities under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.

"There’s a broad range of areas, from critical minerals to energy and defence and security, where we are intensifying our discussions with Germany," he added.

Accompanying Carney on this trip will be Natural Resources Minister Tim Hodgson, Defence Minister David McGuinty, and Industry Minister Mélanie Joly. The German government had previously announced the meeting ahead of Carney's press conference.

Berlin's statement indicated that the two leaders are expected to address current foreign and economic policy issues.

This trip comes amid escalating efforts to broker peace in Ukraine. Recent developments have seen the conflict intensify following unsuccessful peace talks in Alaska, which failed to achieve a ceasefire. Russia has also launched one of its heaviest bombardments against Ukraine in recent weeks.

Carney has participated in several virtual meetings of the Coalition of the Willing, a group of nations, including Canada and Germany, that aims to support Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia.