Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sees an opportunity for economic growth as Prime Minister Mark Carney prepares to visit Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, beginning Tuesday. Carney is scheduled to meet with the President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, to discuss topics including energy, agriculture, infrastructure, and AI, with the hopes of expanding the two nations’ economic partnership. This visit follows the separate visits with Smith and Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation, to the UAE in October. Smith addressed several topics during her visit, but one thing she took away from it was the UAE’s advanced technological abilities —specifically AI— and the role that Alberta can play in supplying fuel to power the continued advancement of AI.“When I was there, Microsoft was putting on a major conference, and one of the things that they revealed was that 700 million people on the planet don't have electricity, 6 billion don't have access to the internet, and 3.9 billion don't have digital skills. That's half the world's population,” said Smith. “I think what you're seeing is that among the tech industry, they're understanding that we do need to invest in clean or in abundant energy, and that comes from all sources so that we can fuel the AI data race.”.As Carney prepares to visit the Arab nation and discuss how Canada and the UAE can strengthen their economic partnership, Smith hopes that he will make Alberta’s natural resources one of his top priorities. “I would hope that the fact that he sent his AI data minister there [before], that they're giving the same message that we are,” Smith said. “That we've got to look at natural gas as a foundation fuel in order to be able to fuel that growth, so that we can address issues of global poverty.”Canada and the UAE have maintained a diplomatic relationship for over 50 years, and the two countries have collaborated on various topics, including promoting prosperity in their societies, ensuring security, and supporting development in developing countries. Merchandise trade between Canada and the UAE in 2024 totalled $3.4 billion, including $2.6 billion from Canadian exports and $800.2 million in imports. During Carney’s time as leader, as relations with the U.S. have fluctuated, the federal government has been on a mission to form or strengthen connections with countries worldwide. Smith believes that the UAE could be a great nation to further align with. “I would, in fact, love to see a free trade agreement with the UAE,” Smith said. She believes that the UAE can offer access to additional countries and regions where Canada has historically struggled to gain entry. “They've got access to markets in China, in India, all throughout the Middle East, all throughout Africa,” Smith said. “And so we think that that would be an incredible destination for us, especially for our agricultural products and our fiber products.”.Along with strengthening trade relationships, Smith hopes that Carney may gain some technological insights to help improve the Canadian economy. “I think that the UAE is the most advanced from a technological point of view, they have 59% usage of artificial intelligence in their economy,” Smith said. “Canada's at 33% so anything that we can do to understand how they're doing that, I think, is going to be really positive and lead to productivity gains here.” Carney’s trip overseas will also include attending the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on November 22 and 23, before returning to Ottawa on the 24.
