New Delhi, Feb 28 (PTI) Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Friday kick-started a four-day visit to India that is focused on forging ambitious bilateral partnerships across a range of critical sectors such as trade, energy and artificial intelligence.
Carney, accompanied by a high-level delegation, landed in Mumbai, where he will interact with top Indian and Canadian corporate leaders, financial experts and innovators.
“India is the world’s fastest-growing major economy. We just arrived in Mumbai to meet with business leaders — and forge partnerships that will unlock new opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses,” the Canadian prime minister said on social media.
Carney will travel to New Delhi on Sunday and will hold wide-ranging talks with his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, on Monday.
It is learnt that following the Modi-Carney talks, the two sides may announce their resolve to soon conclude the proposed comprehensive economic partnership agreement.
In the face of its frosty trade ties with the Trump administration, Canada is looking at building a stronger, independent, and more resilient economy.
“In a more uncertain world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are diversifying our trade and attracting massive new investment to create new opportunities for our workers and businesses,” Carney said this week.
“We are forging new partnerships abroad to create greater certainty, security and prosperity at home,” he said.
The Canadian leader’s visit to India is also largely seen as an attempt to reset the ties that came under severe strain following a diplomatic row over the killing of a Khalistani separatist in 2023.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday said both leaders will review the progress achieved till date across diverse areas of the India-Canada strategic partnership, building on their earlier meetings in Kananaskis and Johannesburg in June and November, respectively.
The two prime ministers will also attend the India-Canada CEOs Forum on Monday.
“The visit comes at an important juncture in normalisation of India-Canada bilateral relations,” the MEA said.
In the last few months, India and Canada have taken several steps to normalise relations.
The India-Canada ties hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
India had dismissed Trudeau’s accusation as “absurd”.
In October 2024, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case.
India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.
However, Liberal Party leader Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election last April helped begin the process to reset relations.
Subsequently, both sides have already posted their high commissioners in each other’s capitals.
In June last year, Prime Minister Modi travelled to Canada’s Kananaskis to attend the G7 summit.
Modi and Carney held extensive talks on the margins of the summit with a focus on rebuilding the ties. PTI MPB ARI
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