Canada – Qatar Joint Statement 

October 15, 2025

The Honourable Evan Solomon, Canada’s Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, and His Excellency Mr. Mohammed bin Ali bin Mohammed Al Mannai, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of the State of Qatar, held a bilateral meeting on October 15, 2025, in Doha to accelerate cooperation between the two countries across a range of issues.

The Ministers reaffirmed the strong bilateral relationship between Canada and Qatar, celebrating over 50 years of diplomatic ties. They highlighted the importance of pursuing shared goals and mutual interests in communications and information technology. Both sides welcomed recent high-level visits and committed to strengthening cooperation in key technology sectors.

Both sides acknowledged the progress made since establishing diplomatic relations and the positive momentum in bilateral cooperation. They recognized the potential for greater collaboration in emerging technologies, consistent with respective priority areas.

The Ministers examined possible cooperation areas and discussed creating working mechanisms to enhance bilateral collaboration, and to accelerate the formalization of this collaboration through a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to be finalized over the coming months. The productive discussions highlighted the following potential areas of cooperation:

• High-Performance Computing (HPC): Both sides expressed strong interest in collaborating on HPC infrastructure and applications. Canada and Qatar discussed opportunities to exchange expertise in supercomputing technologies, computational sciences, and research applications. Both parties welcomed exploring the exchange of technical experts and researchers for joint initiatives in HPC resource optimization, energy-efficient computing, and applications in areas of mutual interest including climate modeling, healthcare research, and advanced manufacturing.
• Artificial Intelligence (AI): Significant cooperation was welcomed in the field of artificial intelligence. Both sides discussed leveraging complementarities in Canada's AI initiatives and Qatar's National AI Strategy to advance deeper collaboration. Potential areas include secure and responsible AI implementation, AI applications for government services, and developing AI talent.
• Investment Opportunities: Both sides expressed the importance of encouraging investors, venture capital firms, and industry leaders to explore opportunities in each other’s economies.
• Business engagements, innovation and entrepreneurship: Both Ministers reaffirmed their commitment to fostering a dynamic business environment that supports innovation and technology startup. Both sides discussed ways to connect businesses, entrepreneurs, facilitate business delegations, and encourage collaboration between tech companies in both countries.
• Government Policy Development. Both sides highlighted the importance of sharing insights on digital transformation strategies and regulatory frameworks. Canada and Qatar agreed to exploring exchanging experiences in creating national technology policies and data governance frameworks. Both sides welcomed discussions on approaches to developing the digital economy, ICT standards, innovation ecosystems, and public-private partnerships in the tech sector. They also agreed to promote exchanges between policy experts and government officials to share best practices.
• Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Discussions included cooperation in areas such as digital transformation, smart cities initiatives, telecommunications infrastructure (including data centers), and the development of a digital society. Both parties welcomed the exchange of visits by relevant officials and technical experts. Qatar suggested establishing a Joint Committee to improve coordination on ICT collaboration.
• Capacity Building and Knowledge Exchange: Both parties emphasized the importance of capacity-building programs, technical training, and voluntary knowledge transfer. They agreed to explore opportunities for:
  • Exchange of technical experts and policy specialists
  •  Joint workshops, seminars, and training programs
  • Participation in technology conferences and forums
  • Sharing of case studies and lessons learned in digital transformation

Framework for Implementation

Both sides showed their willingness to keep dialogue and coordination going to finalize an MOU. The parties agreed to:

• Assign key contacts within their respective Ministries to coordinate efforts and promote continuous communication.
• Schedule regular check-ins to monitor progress and find new opportunities.

The Ministers look forward to further strengthening bilateral cooperation in communications and information technology and agree to stay in regular contact to promote the areas of collaboration identified during this meeting.