Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said after talks in Ankara that they had agreed to elevate relations between their countries to a strategic partnership. The sides signed three documents.
Erdoğan said Turkey and Canada aim to launch new projects in energy, trade, transport and the defence industry. They agreed to begin negotiations on a free trade agreement before the end of the year.
The countries aim to raise their current trade volume of around $3 billion first to $5 billion and then to $10 billion. An updated air transport agreement is expected to roughly double the number of direct flights between the countries.
