Trudeau appoints former PM Joe Clark as lead on UN Security Council bid

“Canada highly values its long-standing relationships with Algeria, Egypt, Bahrain, and Qatar,” said the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, P.C., M.P., Minister of Foreign Affairs, who made the announcement. “I am pleased to have Mr. Clark’s support as we campaign for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.”

Clark will endeavour to strengthen Canada’s relationships with these four nations and discuss ideas for how best to collaborate and cooperate on regional security, trade, and other areas. Canada’s contributions to a Security Council that is able to adapt and respond to peace and security challenges internationally are at the top of Clark’s agenda.

“I look forward to helping strengthen these important relationships,” Clark said, “including on issues such as peace and security. Canada is committed to working together with our partners toward a more peaceful and inclusive world.”

Canada has a recent history with Algeria when the two nations joined to launch the Global Counterterrorism Forum in 2011. They were co-chairs of the Capacity-building in West-Africa Region Working Group until 2019. Egypt and Canada have cooperated on international peacekeeping efforts in the Sinai region.

Canada has a current troop deployment to a multinational coalition based in Bahrain to oversee counter-terrorism in the Horn of Africa region. Qatar has an outpost of the College of the North Atlantic, which has graduated over 4,500 students since 2002.

The region is the eighth-most important trading partner to Canada, with the value of bilateral trade to the area (excluding Israel) reaching $12.44 billion in 2018, and the number of students attending universities in Canada topping 29,000.

With a seat on the UN Security Council, Canada anticipates continued work with partners in the Middle East and North Africa toward the goals of peace, addressing climate change, promoting economic security, gender equality, and multilateralism.