diff --git a/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile.template b/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile.template
index c908a638edc..292eaa828dd 100644
--- a/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile.template
+++ b/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile.template
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 %YAML 1.2
 --- |
-  # Copyright 2015 gRPC authors.
+  # Copyright 2021 The gRPC Authors
   #
   # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@
   # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   # limitations under the License.
   
-  FROM golang:1.11
+  FROM golang:1.16
   
   <%include file="../../go_path.include"/>
   <%include file="../../python_deps.include"/>
diff --git a/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/Dockerfile.template b/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/Dockerfile.template
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..292eaa828dd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/Dockerfile.template
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+%YAML 1.2
+--- |
+  # Copyright 2021 The gRPC Authors
+  #
+  # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+  # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+  # You may obtain a copy of the License at
+  #
+  #     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+  #
+  # Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+  # distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+  # WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+  # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+  # limitations under the License.
+  
+  FROM golang:1.16
+  
+  <%include file="../../go_path.include"/>
+  <%include file="../../python_deps.include"/>
+  # Define the default command.
+  CMD ["bash"]
+  
diff --git a/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/build_interop.sh.template b/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/build_interop.sh.template
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a08798b1d6b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/templates/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/build_interop.sh.template
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+%YAML 1.2
+--- |
+  <%include file="../../go_build_interop.sh.include"/>  
diff --git a/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile b/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile
index dfde24557ac..3863cde6f5b 100644
--- a/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile
+++ b/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go/Dockerfile
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-# Copyright 2015 gRPC authors.
+# Copyright 2021 The gRPC Authors
 #
 # Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
 # you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM golang:1.11
+FROM golang:1.16
 
 # Using login shell removes Go from path, so we add it.
 RUN ln -s /usr/local/go/bin/go /usr/local/bin
diff --git a/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/Dockerfile b/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/Dockerfile
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3863cde6f5b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/Dockerfile
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+# Copyright 2021 The gRPC Authors
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+FROM golang:1.16
+
+# Using login shell removes Go from path, so we add it.
+RUN ln -s /usr/local/go/bin/go /usr/local/bin
+
+#====================
+# Python dependencies
+
+# Install dependencies
+
+RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
+    python-all-dev \
+    python3-all-dev \
+    python-setuptools
+
+# Install Python packages from PyPI
+RUN curl https://bootstrap.pypa.io/pip/2.7/get-pip.py | python2.7
+RUN pip install --upgrade pip==19.3.1
+RUN pip install virtualenv==16.7.9
+RUN pip install futures==2.2.0 enum34==1.0.4 protobuf==3.5.2.post1 six==1.15.0 twisted==17.5.0
+
+# Define the default command.
+CMD ["bash"]
diff --git a/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/build_interop.sh b/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/build_interop.sh
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..309340cb9ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tools/dockerfile/interoptest/grpc_interop_go1.16/build_interop.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+# Copyright 2015 gRPC authors.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+#
+# Builds Go interop server and client in a base image.
+set -e
+
+# Turn on support for Go modules.
+export GO111MODULE=on
+
+# Clone just the grpc-go source code without any dependencies.
+# We are cloning from a local git repo that contains the right revision
+# to test instead of using "go get" to download from Github directly.
+git clone --recursive /var/local/jenkins/grpc-go src/google.golang.org/grpc
+
+# copy service account keys if available
+cp -r /var/local/jenkins/service_account $HOME || true
+
+# Build the interop client and server
+(cd src/google.golang.org/grpc/interop/client && go install)
+(cd src/google.golang.org/grpc/interop/server && go install)
+  
diff --git a/tools/interop_matrix/client_matrix.py b/tools/interop_matrix/client_matrix.py
index 38e39fc145c..5cd532e6a7c 100644
--- a/tools/interop_matrix/client_matrix.py
+++ b/tools/interop_matrix/client_matrix.py
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def should_build_docker_interop_image_from_release_tag(lang):
 # Dictionary of default runtimes per language
 LANG_RUNTIME_MATRIX = {
     'cxx': ['cxx'],  # This is actually debian8.
-    'go': ['go1.8', 'go1.11'],
+    'go': ['go1.8', 'go1.11', 'go1.16'],
     'java': ['java'],
     'python': ['python', 'pythonasyncio'],
     'node': ['node'],
@@ -186,6 +186,7 @@ LANG_RELEASE_MATRIX = {
             ('v1.35.0', ReleaseInfo(runtimes=['go1.11'])),
             ('v1.36.0', ReleaseInfo(runtimes=['go1.11'])),
             ('v1.37.0', ReleaseInfo(runtimes=['go1.11'])),
+            # NOTE: starting from release v1.38.0, use runtimes=['go1.16']
         ]),
     'java':
         OrderedDict([