ISTANBUL: Canadian engineering company AtkinsRealis is in the running to help build Turkiye’s third nuclear power plant, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said.

NATO allies Canada and Turkiye upgraded their relations to a “strategic partnership” during the first bilateral visit by a Canadian prime minister on Thursday, as Carney seeks new global trade partners to reduce reliance on the United States.

The new partnership signed in Ankara focuses on trade and investment, defense, security and energy. It aims to create jobs and opportunities for Canadian and Turkish companies to do more business together.

Asked about talks on Canadian involvement in Turkiye’s planned third nuclear power plant — over which Ankara has also held talks with South Korea, Russia, China, and Japan — Carney said the decision would ultimately be made by the Turkish government but he believed Canada had better odds now.

“If you would have asked us a year ago how we would have pegged the chances, they would have been very low. Now there are good chances. There’s real competition, of course,” Carney told reporters in Istanbul, adding that there may be a decision on the issue before year-end.

He said the strength of Canada’s CANDU technology, partnership with some Turkish businesses, including on the construction side, and the ability to build out elements of the supply chain make it “quite a compelling proposition.”

Rosatom, Russia’s state nuclear energy company, is building Turkiye’s first nuclear power station at Akkuyu in the Mediterranean province of Mersin under a $20 billion accord from 2010. It said last week that it expected a year-end nuclear start-up at the site.

Turkiye plans to build a second nuclear power plant in the Black Sea region of Sinop, with the third planned in the northwestern region of Thrace.

Reuters had reported before Carney’s visit that the allies would discuss potential purchases by Turkiye of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Canada, as well as critical minerals. On Thursday, they said they had agreed to significantly increase collaboration across the energy sector, including in LNG, civil nuclear energy and renewable energy.