Trudeau, Netanyahu hold unannounced meeting at World Economic Forum

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, but the Canadian media travelling with the PM did not receive a customary notification in advance.

The Prime Minister’s Office sent an email to the media to announce a last-minute meeting between the two men even though it had been mentioned several hours earlier in the Israeli media.

The PMO later apologized for the late notice and promised to provide a summary of what it called a “last-minute pull-aside.”

The meeting in Davos comes weeks after the Canadian government chose to abstain from voting on a resolution condemning U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to relocate the American embassy.

Israeli media also reported that Netanyahu and Trump will meet on Thursday — their fourth meeting since Trump took office.

The North American Free Trade Agreement is expected to be the prime topic when Trudeau participates in a roundtable discussion later Wednesday with several U.S. business leaders in Davos.

The session will involve several heavy hitters in U.S. business, including the CEOs of Dow Chemical, UPS, Cargill, Qualcomm Inc., Tyson Foods and the New York Stock Exchange.

The roundtable on the sidelines of the Forum comes a day after Canada and Mexico joined the new Trans-Pacific Partnership as the NAFTA partners gathered in Montreal for a week of negotiations.

There are concerns that the efforts in Montreal could be impacted by the new TPP, but the chief negotiators for Canada and Mexico brushed aside that notion on Tuesday.

“It’s pretty much separate tracks,” Canada’s lead negotiator Steve Verheul told The Canadian Press in Montreal.

Trudeau was also scheduled to hold bilateral business meetings Wednesday with the heads of Royal Dutch Shell, Microsoft and Ericsson. He also has one bilateral meeting with a political leader — Argentine President Mauricio Macri.

Before leave Switzerland on Thursday, Trudeau is scheduled to attend a public session on the empowerment of girls and women and be joined by Pakistani activist and honorary Canadian citizen Malala Yousafzai.

Trump is scheduled to speak in Davos on Friday after Trudeau returns home.