Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand arrived in the national capital on Sunday, a day before talks with her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar. The discussions are expected to focus on setting up a framework for bilateral “strategic” cooperation in areas of trade, energy and security.
It is Anand’s first visit to India after assuming charge as the foreign minister in May. She is also scheduled to meet Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss ways to boost two-way trade ties. “This visit will help build on the positive momentum in India-Canada relations by revitalising our bilateral mechanisms, deepening economic cooperation, and further strengthening the enduring people-to-people ties that anchor our partnership,” External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X.
New Delhi is Anand’s first stop of her three-nation tour that will also take her to China and Singapore. In New Delhi, Minister Anand will meet with Jaishankar and Goyal, as “both countries move toward establishing a framework for strategic cooperation on issues such as trade diversification, energy transformation and security”, a Canadian readout said on Saturday.
“Minister Anand will also travel to Mumbai, India, where she will meet with Canadian and Indian firms working to support investment, job creation and economic opportunity in Canada and India,” it said. The Canadian foreign minister’s visit comes more than three weeks after Canada’s National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin visited India and held extensive talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.
Days after the Doval-Drouin meeting, Canada designated the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity for “violently targeting” certain communities and creating a “climate of fear and intimidation”. The renewed vibrancy in the ties between the two countries followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 Summit at Canada’s Kananaskis in June.
The India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following the then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India had dismissed Trudeau’s accusation as “absurd”. In October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case. India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.
However, Liberal Party leader Carney’s victory in the parliamentary election in April helped in beginning the process to reset relations. Both sides have already posted their high commissioners in each other’s capitals.
The two countries also agreed to revive several mechanisms to advance relations in a range of areas. In Singapore, Minister Anand will meet with her counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan to further strengthen Canada’s cooperation with “one of its most important partners” in Southeast Asia, the Canadian readout said.
In China, she will meet Foreign Affairs Minister Wang Yi to continue bilateral engagement as both countries mark 55 years of establishing diplomatic ties, it said.
