Toronto: Canada wants to “deepen economic cooperation” with India, the country’s foreign ministry said even as it’s Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu spoke with Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal on Saturday.
In a readout of that call, Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry said that Sidhu “highlighted the renewal of the Canada-India bilateral relationship and Canada’s work to deepen economic cooperation and advance shared priorities, including food security, energy transformation and supply chain resiliency”.
That was echoed by Sidhu in a post on X, as he said the intent was “to advance discussions on deepening economic engagement and increasing connectivity between Canada and India”.
“Together, we’re exploring new trade opportunities in clean technology, AI, agriculture, critical minerals, and other key sectors,” he added.
Goyal also posted on X and described the talks as “productive”.
“We discussed ways to find mutually beneficial opportunities for our businesses to capitalise on the complementarities offered by our two economies. I emphasised that economic, trade and investment ties between India and Canada should be grounded in the principles of mutual respect, trust and balance,” the Commerce Minister added.
The Global Affairs statement identified “key sectors” offering “opportunities” including critical minerals, agriculture and processed foods, infrastructure, clean technologies and information and communication technologies.
The discussion occurred just prior to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand’s arrival in India on Sunday for a bilateral visit. She will meet External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar as well as Goyal during the trip. She will be in New Delhi and also travel to Mumbai.
The conversation between Sidhu and Goyal and Anand’s visit are part of the gradual reset in relations between the two countries which began after Mark Carney became Canada’s Prime Minister this year. Relations under his predecessor Justin Trudeau had cratered after he stated in the House of Commons on September 18, 2023 that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier.
Canada has said that it is taking a step-by-step approach to resetting ties.
