New York: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Tuesday (September 22, local time) said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to visit Canada in December as the two countries look to lock in the trade deal by the end of this year.
“We are making good progress in our trade negotiations with India. It is an exceptionally important relationship, on many, many levels. People-to-people levels, security levels and also trade and economic. He (PM Modi) will be visiting Canada around that time.
Carney said the two countries are looking to reach a trade deal by the end of the year and described the relation with India as being ‘exceptionally important’. I very much look forward to hosting him,” the Canadian PM said in a news briefing on the sidelines of the UNGA in New York.
“Fifth of October. So you can see that as the progress is taking shape, the speed of negotiations with Canada is also improving. Earlier on September 21, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that India and Canada have agreed to fast-track negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), with the next round of talks scheduled to begin on October 5. The minister said the fifth round would begin on October 5 and noted that the pace of the negotiations was increasing. Let’s see, the next 90 days should be a very defining period in the Canada-India relationship,” the minister said. Both governments committed to seeking conclusion of the negotiations by the end of 2026.Bilateral trade between India and Canada stood at around USD 8 billion in FY 2025-26, with India exporting goods worth USD 4.67 billion and importing USD 3.28 billion, according to the Commerce Ministry.
Goyal said he had concluded the fourth round of negotiations for the proposed trade agreement with his Canadian counterpart, Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu, in Mumbai last week.
