India and Canada are working “at speed to unleash the potential of new partnerships” across a range of sectors.
This was said by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney after he met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the margins of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Evian, France, on Tuesday.
In a post on X, Carney said he and Modi were “working at speed to unleash the potential of new partnerships between our nations — in energy, talent, and AI.”
“India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world, and a powerhouse of global commerce and technology,” Carney said.
A statement from the Indian PMO said that the two leaders reviewed progress in ties and “discussed strengthening cooperation in energy, technology, trade, economic ties and people-to-people exchanges.”
Among the major items discussed was the status of the negotiations towards the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (Cepa). Both leaders said they want talks to conclude by the time the G20 Leaders’ Summit is held in Miami in December. Modi also said he will try and visit Canada before the end of this year.
In a post on X, Modi sad, “In less than a year, it is our fourth meeting, indicating our commitment to strong India-Canada ties. We reviewed the full range of relations between our nations, notably the ground covered.”
Both leaders “expressed satisfaction” with the progress in the Cepa negotiations, according to a readout from the Canadian PMO. That readout added they reaffirmed their “commitment to building a forward-looking strategic partnership.”
They also “welcomed the strengthening of institutional engagement”, including the recent meetings of the Joint Science and Technology Cooperation Committee and the Consular Dialogue and “looked forward to forthcoming dialogues in the areas of defence, finance and migration.”
They also agreed to launch negotiations on a General Security of Information Agreement or GSOIA, while welcoming the “positive momentum” in relations.
Modi expressed India’s support for Canada becoming a Dialogue Partner of the Indian Ocean Rim Association. They announced the establishment of Raisina Americas as a platform to further strengthen dialogue, exchanges and cooperation.
When Modi’s visit to Canada does occur, it will be the first standalone bilateral trip by the Indian PM to the country since April 2015, when Stephen Harpet was PM. Modi never visited the country during Justin Trudeau’s decade-long tenure at Canada’s PM. Modi did, of course, come to the country in June last year, but that was for the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis, to which he was invited by Carney. That invitation and their meeting on the margins of the summit at the Alberta resort spurred the reset in bilateral ties which has evolved into a renewal.
The two PMs met twice more after that — in November, on the margins of the G20 Leaders Summit in Johannesburg, they announced the launch of fresh negotiations towards the CEPA. Carney visited India in late February-early March and the leaders consolidated the renewal in relations with an ambitious joint statement, focused on partnership across multiple sectors.
