🔶 Carney: Canada should review reopening its embassies in Iran and Venezuela

Mark Carney, Canada’s prime minister, said the current situation regarding the closure of this country’s embassies in Iran and Venezuela should change and that Ottawa should examine the possibility of reopening these diplomatic missions. He emphasized that no final decision has yet been made in this regard, saying that the absence of a diplomatic presence in these countries reduces Canada’s capacity to support its citizens and respond to humanitarian crises.

Continuing along the same approach, Carney also said during his trip to Saudi Arabia that engaging with a country does not mean endorsing all of its actions.

He, who is the first Canadian leader in the past 25 years to have traveled to Saudi Arabia, stressed that direct engagement and face-to-face diplomacy are more effective than criticizing from afar.

The Canadian prime minister said: “Lecturing countries from far away is an ineffective strategy. It might be satisfying, but it is not effective.”

Carney also said that Canada has become overly dependent on a single partner— the United States—and now must expand its relationships with important partners in different parts of the world.

According to him, Ottawa is pursuing a policy of diversifying its economic and diplomatic relations.