Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has offered Italy priority access to Canada’s critical mineral reserves, with the two leaders using the G7 summit in Évian to expand bilateral cooperation spanning supply chains, defence procurement and energy at a moment when Western allies are accelerating efforts to secure strategic resource access.
The meeting between Carney and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni builds on a year of growing bilateral engagement. Recent milestones include Italian energy company Eni’s nearly C$100 million investment to secure graphite from Nouveau Monde Graphite’s Matawinie project in Quebec, Italy’s entry into the Critical Minerals Production Alliance, and a series of trade and investment initiatives between the two countries.
“Italy’s intention to collaborate with Canada to stockpile critical minerals will catalyze further partnerships between our countries in energy and industry,” the Canadian government said in a statement. Meloni thanked Carney for granting priority access, with the Italian government’s statement describing the move as helping to safeguard supply chains.
The agreement reflects Canada’s broader strategy of positioning itself as a core strategic supplier of minerals essential to battery manufacturing, defence technologies and industrial production, as G7 nations work to reduce dependence on concentrated global supply chains dominated by China.
Beyond minerals, the two leaders launched negotiations for Canada’s purchase of Leonardo M-346 advanced jet trainer aircraft from Italy, framing the proposed acquisition as advancing Canada’s Defence Industrial Strategy through partnerships with trusted allies. Carney also highlighted plans for a new Defence, Security and Resilience Bank to finance long-term defence and security projects.
Carney and Meloni also reaffirmed support for Ukraine, agreed on maintaining pressure on Russia and discussed Middle East developments.
