India, Canada firm up roadmap to expand ties; resolve to respect each other’s ‘sensitivities’

NEW DELHI: India and Canada have stepped up efforts to strengthen cooperation in several areas like trade, energy, technology and people to people linkages in a bid to reset their ties that hit rock bottom in 2023 that included expulsion of each other’s diplomats.

Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand, making her first official visit to India, met her counterpart S Jaishankar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Capital on Monday. PM Modi told her the visit would strengthen “efforts to impart new momentum” to the partnership of the two countries.

Noting the significance of India-Canada ties in several areas, Modi, in his meeting with the Canadian Foreign Minister, recalled his visit to Canada in June this year for the G7 Summit during which he held an “extremely productive” meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, an official readout said.

“The prime minister noted the significance of enhanced cooperation between the two countries in trade, energy, technology, agriculture and people-to-people ties,” it said.

Modi also conveyed his warm wishes to Carney and said that he looked forward to their upcoming engagements.

Anand arrived in New Delhi last evening as part of her three-nation tour that will also take her to China and Singapore.

It is learnt that the Indian side also flagged its concerns over activities of certain pro-Khalistan elements in Canada.

The two sides will pursue a “constructive and balanced” partnership grounded in respect for each other’s “concerns and sensitivities”, strong people-to-people ties, and growing economic complementarities, a joint statement said.

The India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Canadian claims were denied by New Delhi.

As bilateral ties witnessed sharp downturn, India had asked Canadian diplomats in New Delhi to leave the country after Ottawa said it was investigating its Indian ambassador and other diplomats as “persons of interest” after the killing of a Sikh separatist leader in 2023.

In a tit-for-tat move, Canada too had asked six Indian diplomats to leave the country after its police collected evidence, they were part of an Indian government “campaign of violence”.

However, both sides have initiated a series of measures to repair the ties after Liberal Party leader Mark Carney became the prime minister following his victory in the parliamentary elections in April.

The renewed vibrancy in the ties between the two countries followed PM Modi’s talks with Carney on the margins of the G7 summit at Canada’s Kananaskis in June.

India and Canada have prepared an ambitious roadmap to advance ties in areas of trade, investment, critical minerals, energy and civil nuclear collaboration, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.

Jaishankar made the remarks during his talks with his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand.

“India-Canada bilateral relations have been steadily progressing in the last few months. We are working to restore and reinvigorate the mechanisms necessary to advance our partnership,” he said in his opening remarks at the meeting.

“As Prime Minister Modi noted during his meeting with Prime Minister Carney in Kananaskis, India’s approach is to move forward with a positive mindset,” he said.

“When we look at Canada, we see a complementary economy, we see another open society, we see diversity and pluralism, and we believe that that is the basis for a close, sustainable and long-term cooperative framework,” Jaishankar said.

“Let me also say that both sides for our meeting today have prepared an ambitious roadmap to advance our cooperation in various domains, including trade, investment, agriculture, science and technology, civil nuclear collaboration, AI, critical minerals, and energy,” he added.

Anand said on social media that India and Canada are building on the momentum of Carney’s meeting with Modi and elevating their relationship while “maintaining our law enforcement and security dialogue and expanding our economic relationship”.