New Delhi: India and Canada agreed to reopen negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) as the reset in ties between New Delhi and Ottawa continues to gather momentum. The announcement was made after Prime Ministers Narendra Modi and Mark J. Carney met on the margins of the G20 summit in South Africa.
“The leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a high-ambition Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), aimed at doubling bilateral trade to USD 50 billion by 2030. Both sides reaffirmed their longstanding civil nuclear cooperation and noted the ongoing discussions on expanding collaboration, including through long-term uranium supply arrangements,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said Sunday in its readout of the bilateral meeting between the two prime ministers.
Modi and Carney have sought to reset ties that had hit a low following former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegation of Indian officials being linked to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil. Nijjar, an Indian designated terrorist, was killed outside a gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia in June 2023.
Almost three months later, the then Canadian Trade Minister Mary Ng announced that Ottawa is suspending trade talks with India. Talks for a FTA had first started in 2010. They were formally relaunched in 2022 and by the summer of 2023, enough momentum had gathered for talks to be possibly concluded by the end of the year. However, Canada suspended negotiations and weeks later, Trudeau laid out his allegation against India with regard to the killing of Nijjar.
India rejected Trudeau’s allegations, calling them “absurd and motivated.” Eventually by October 2024, New Delhi had withdrawn its High Commissioner and five other diplomats from Canada while expelling the acting Canadian High Commissioner and five others—signifying a major break in diplomatic ties.
However, the political relationship changed after Trudeau stepped down from power and Carney–the former Governor of the Bank of England–came to lead the Liberal Party in March. Carney sought to move discussions over transnational crimes to the appropriate fora for discussions while resetting political ties.
Modi travelled to Canada in June to attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit at Carney’s invitation. The two leaders held a bilateral meeting promising to restart the relationship through the simultaneous appointment of high commissioners in respective missions. This was announced in August.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand travelled to India in October and met Modi and her Indian counterpart External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. Anand’s visit saw the two countries announce a new roadmap for ties. Similarly, Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Adviser Nathalie G. Drouin travelled to New Delhi in September and met with NSA Ajit Doval—indicating the restart in security level cooperation.
The latest meeting between Modi and Carney has pushed the relationship forward in trade—an area that is of concern to both India and Canada following the imposition of tariffs on trade by US President Donald Trump. The US remains Canada’s most important market. Similarly, the US is India’s largest export market. Last year, over $86 billion worth of Indian goods were exported to the US.
India, Canada and Australia Saturday announced a trilateral initiative to boost cooperation in emerging technologies and innovation on the margins of the G20 summit.
“The leaders welcomed the adoption of Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation (ACITI) Partnership which would give a boost to trilateral cooperation in the fields of critical technologies, nuclear energy, diversification of supply chains and AI,” said the readout.
Modi’s three-day visit to Johannesburg began Friday evening and ended Sunday. Apart from attending the G20 summit, he also attended the IBSA (India-Brazil-South Africa) leaders’ meeting and held bilaterals with the Prime Ministers of Australia, Italy and Japan apart from the one with Carney. The Indian leader also had the opportunity to interact with a number of global leaders at the summit.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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