Toronto: Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal’s forthcoming visit to Canada will expect to start a series of high-level trade-related meetings, building momentum towards a potential comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) between the two countries.
Goyal will be in Canada from May 27-29, and will first hold meetings in the capital Ottawa, before moving on to a series of industry and business events in Toronto.
He is scheduled to meet his Canadian counterpart, Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu in Ottawa and the latter will join him for the engagements in Toronto, people familiar with the schedule said. Thereafter, Sidhu is expected to visit India this summer to take forward the trade engagement, with the initial rounds of negotiations towards the CEPA already concluded.
A number of Indian company executives will be accompanying Goyal on the visit and they will meet their Canadian counterparts during business meetings in Toronto including a trade and investment forum being organised by Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry. “It’s great when you have the Minister coming. You can quickly convene companies doing business and companies should be doing companies, primarily the Canadian businesses,” Victor Thomas, president and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council, which is hosting another such event, said.
Among them could be secondary and tertiary pension funds that have little to no exposure to India. While the major pension funds, collectively called the Maple Eight, control over CA$ 2 trillion in assets, these smaller funds, which number over two dozen, hold over CA$ 250 billion.
Thomas said Goyal’s visit was a “material extension” of the renewal in relations between the two countries after Mark Carney assumed charge as Prime Minister in March 2025.
“It’s not just in moving CEPA talks forward, but also that they are formally looking to engage. It’s heartening to see the momentum, but also given the changing trade order in the world, people are waking up to the realisation that India is an important ally and trade partner,” Thomas said.
