Mark Carney secures controversial $70bn from the U.A.E.

Mark Carney wrapped up his visit to Abu Dhabi before the weekend with a surprising announcement: that he had received the funding for his minerals processing project. The only kicker? It’s coming from a country allegedly funding war crimes in Sudan.

The goal of the funding is Carney’s new critical minerals processing facility in Canada, and the initial investment will be just over $1bn.  

“[It] will expand critical minerals processing capacity in Canada, creating jobs, boosting [the] long-term supply of minerals essential to energy technologies and advanced manufacturing. More on that soon,”

Carney said the new project will further Canada’s economic growth, and that Canada is already “a global leader in AI, in quantum and life sciences. And we realize it’s time to begin to commercialize these strengths, for the benefit of humanity,”

The decision comes as Canada’s economy is struggling due to the trade war inflicted by Donald Trump. While neither the Canadian government nor the U.A.E. foreign ministry has confirmed where the rest of the reported $70bn will be invested, media reports have suggested the investments will be spread out, including into industries like energy, mining, and AI.

In a speech on Friday, the PM said he is “very confident” that Canada and the U.A.E. can more than double their trade in less than a decade.

He also included that Canada and the U.A.E. are ‘aligned’ as trading nations and ‘energy superpowers’ that are going green. That is the comment that sparked feelings in many of his supporters.

To insinuate that Canada and the U.A.E. are aligned in any way has struck a chord with people all over Canada.

Carney didn’t touch on this when he said that “To the uninitiated, Canada and the U.A.E. can appear as different as snow and sand, yet we’re deeply, deeply aligned.”

Should Canada and the U.A.E. be deeply aligned?

According to human rights groups, the Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF) is committing a genocide in Darfur in western Sudan, while fighting a civil war with Sudan’s military rulers.

According to human rights groups, the Rapid Support Forces militia (RSF) is committing a genocide in Darfur in western Sudan, while fighting a civil war with Sudan’s military rulers.

Carney claimed that “We did discuss the situation in Sudan,” but refused to go into detail.