Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney held a telephone conversation on Tuesday and agreed to build on the improving momentum in India-Canada relations, with a focus on delivering concrete outcomes in key areas of their strategic partnership.
Following the conversation, PM Modi said both countries would work to strengthen cooperation in trade, energy, technology, security and people-to-people ties.
“Had a warm and productive conversation with Prime Minister Mark Carney. We agreed to build on the positive momentum in India-Canada ties and work towards concrete outcomes across key areas of our Strategic Partnership, including trade, energy, technology, security and people-to-people ties,” PM Modi wrote on X. In an exclusive interview with IANS ahead of Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s official visit to India, Cooter spoke about recent engagements between the two governments, including meetings between Anand and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. He also discussed the upcoming visit of Canada’s Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu. He noted that Canada’s National Security Adviser had recently visited India for discussions with his Indian counterpart.
Anand’s visit would mark her 10th meeting with Jaishankar over the past year, he said.
The delegation is expected to spend a week in the country and visit several cities in southern India. He added that at least six other Canadian ministers had visited India over the past year. Cooter said Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu would visit India the following week, leading a delegation of 300 Canadian business representatives. “Our Trade Minister will also visit next week, leading a delegation of 300 Canadian business representatives.
I believe this is the largest trade delegation we have ever taken anywhere, certainly to India,” he said. The High Commissioner said the two countries were also pursuing discussions on energy, migration and defence, with a defence-related visit expected in the near future. A key focus of the proposed visit by PM Modi to Canada will be the possibility of signing the two countries’ first Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Cooter said.
