FORUM DE DEFENSE ET DE STRATEGIE
Canada and France in the Middle East: Opportunities for Cooperation in a Constrained Context
By Fanny Alarcon, RAS, NSA
February 6th 2024
Summary
At the center of media attention, the conflicts in the Middle East are also having a knock-on effect on Canada and France. The heightened security threats put both Canadian and French citizens living in the region and the military forces still deployed there at risk. Similarly, security instability reinforces regional economic challenges, while securing maritime corridors is essential to ensure French and Canadian energy supplies. Last but not least, the major resonance of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict within our own societies means that we must attach particular importance to it.
Despite these stakes, France and Canada – whose authorities constantly reiterate their friendly relations with each other – are not making any real joint efforts in this region, where heightened strategic competition leaves little room for individual action by medium-sized powers such as France or Canada. This note therefore proposes to explore avenues of cooperation between Paris and Ottawa in the Middle East:
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Increased cooperation in the field of intelligence would appear to be an ideal lever, given that intelligence gathering, analysis and production remains an inescapable means of detecting potential threats to our states. Increased intelligence sharing between Paris and Ottawa, or the creation of exchange platforms, are concrete avenues of cooperation that could be pursued in the short term.
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“Pragmatic diplomacy”, at the heart of Canada’s strategy to rationalize its diplomatic efforts, can be applied to the Middle East, where Canada and France can cooperate and coordinate on very concrete aspects. Examples include evacuation operations and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
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While the dissemination of knowledge and proven information is essential in the context of these conflicts and their echoes within Canadian and French societies, joint work by the two academic worlds and new bridges between researchers could strengthen knowledge useful to civil society and political leaders alike.
This policy report, published by the Network for Strategic Analysis (RAS-NSA), is part of the Personnalités d'Avenir France Canada program on defense issues, 2024 edition, organized by the FDS and the France-Canada Association, with the support of the Department of National Defence of Canada’s Mobilizing Insights in Defence and Security (MINDS) program and the DGRIS (Directorate General for International Relations and Strategy, French Ministry of the Armed Forces).