Canada, India agree to advance shared priorities in meet of foreign ministers

Canada and India agreed to strengthen ties, focusing on economic prosperity and security, following a meeting at the UN General Assembly.

After meeting external affairs minister S Jaishankar on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, Canada’s minister of foreign affairs Anita Anand said they “agreed to advance shared priorities.”

External affairs minister S Jaishankar with Canada's foreign minister, Anita Anand, in New Delhi. (@DrSJaishankar X)

A statement issued on Tuesday by Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, said “agreed to advance shared priorities, including economic prosperity, security and global governance.”

They also “discussed strengthening Canada and India’s bilateral ties” building on the “productive discussions” between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis in June this year.

“Minister Anand emphasised that Canada remains committed to supporting and growing the well-established commercial ties shared by Canada and India, including agricultural products, critical minerals and energy products,” the statement added.

The readout also said the ministers “acknowledged recent progress in the two countries’ relationship through the appointment of high commissioners in India and Canada.” Anand noted that Canada’s high commissioners play a key role in promoting Canadian trade and investment, providing services to Canadians abroad and enabling dialogue between countries.

Nadjibulla said that the momentum of the reset is being maintained. “These are all steps that we were hoping would be taken as part of the reset and they are materialising. Obviously, there’s still a lot of work to be done on rebuilding and mutual trust,” she felt.

India continues to have concerns over pro-Khalistan separatists using Canadian territory to further their agenda, while Ottawa remains worried over transnational repression.

The latter issue cratered ties between the two countries after then Canadian PM Justin Trudeau 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. India described those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated.” The gradual reset commenced after Carney became PM earlier this year and continued after he led the ruling Liberal Party back to power after the April Federal election.

Referring to the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump, Nadjibulla said this was “an opportunity to build something better that is more beneficial to both countries and that also meet the requirements for economic diversification requirements for reliable partners in the current geopolitical moment.”