With tensions in the Middle East looming over the agenda, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said he sees grounds for cautious optimism about efforts to secure a longer-lasting ceasefire between the US and Iran.
Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Carney said tomorrow’s G7 Summit in France will center on the issues weighing most heavily on the world.
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“We’re encouraged, as we sit down, by the progress with respect to a potential more durable ceasefire with Iran, but what needs to be done to reinforce it?” Mr Carney said.
“So that, in many respects, is topic number one, for the G7, and importantly, for partner countries from the Gulf who are coming,” he added.
“We know how this war is going to end and it is with a Ukrainian victory, and every day that it goes on is a tragedy in terms of loss of human life,” he said.
Visit to Mayo proves ‘very emotional’
On his visit to Co Mayo, Mr Carney said ‘it’s always good to meet family’
Mr Carney said his trip to Co Mayo has stirred deeply positive emotions.
“First off, I realised I have many more cousins than I had thought which is good.
“It’s always good to meet family,” he said.
He added: “Secondly, it’s just a very positive attitude.
“The lesson of my family and my grandparents, is a familiar one, leaving during times of some difficulty, but retaining the values, retaining the ties, and then coming back and seeing how far Ireland has come.”
Last year, before becoming prime minister, Mr Carney said he would renounce his Irish citizenship, even though Canadian law did not require him to do so.
“I wasn’t required to do it by law and there are millions of Canadians who have dual citizenship,” he said.
“I just felt that it, as prime minister, as leader of the country, it needed to be straightforward and clear,” he added.
Mr Carney said the decision “doesn’t change my connection to Ireland”.
“Certainly you can’t change your history and the lessons you’ve learned and the values you’ve learned from them,” he said.
He added: “But sometimes in politics and life, it’s better to just keep things simple.
“So, I renounced or returned the citizenship.
“There was no malice in it. And, of course, the ties remain as strong as ever.”
Canada’s economy remaking itself
Mr Carney has long argued that the current global order has suffered a “rupture” and that smaller “middle powers” must work more closely together.
But with Canada entering a technical recession this year, is a move away from reliance on the US for exports really achievable?
He said: “In Canada, our April GDP figures were very strong and we’re creating jobs over the last year at twice the rate of the United States.
“Foreign investment in Canada is twice the rate of the United States, far and away highest in the G7.”
Mr Carney said the Canadian economy “is transforming itself”.
“Now, you don’t transform overnight, but you do transform when the world changes,” he added.
World Cup?
Watch: Carney says Canada will beat US in the World Cup final
So could Canada’s co-hosting of the World Cup alongside the US and Mexico help narrow some of the current divides?
“I think, yes, sport at its best, bridges those divides, and, you know, I’m sure the United States will take it well when we beat them in the final,” he said.
