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.”
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.
Anand is expected to visit India in the second half of October, on a trip that will include stops in China and Singapore.
In a post on X on Monday, Jaishankar said they had a “good meeting”.
“The appointment of high commissioners is welcome as we rebuild ties. Discussed further steps in that regard today. Look forward to welcoming FM Anand in India,” he added.
Both high commissioners have assumed office: India’s Dinesh Patnaik in Ottawa, and Canada’s Christopher Cooter in New Delhi.
Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president, research and strategy at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada, said there’s been progress on the political and law enforcement and security tracks as evidenced by bilateral engagements including the visit of Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie G Drouin to New Delhi when she met National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on September 18. “Now we need to make some tangible progress on the economic and commercial track,” she said.
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.”
