Overseas Affairs Minister Anita Anand says India has agreed to readmit a full cohort of Canadian diplomats, a 12 months after New Delhi compelled Ottawa to ship most of its envoys residence.
Anand met Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Indian officers, who invited her to be the primary Canadian cupboard minister to go to after two years of diplomatic pressure.
The 2 international locations have signed a press release outlining areas the place they wish to co-operate, such commerce and synthetic intelligence, however Anand stated this work will occur solely step by step.
Talking from Mumbai, Anand stated re-establishing Canada’s full cohort of diplomats was one step Ottawa wanted to see accomplished earlier than it considers a commerce mission or revives talks on a potential commerce deal, which have ebbed and flowed since 2010.
Anand stated Canada will always defend the safety of Canadians, after Canadian officers repeatedly flagged New Delhi as a significant supply of transnational political repression.
Canadian officers insist they’re working step by step to rebuild belief with India, work that began with Prime Minister Mark Carney hosting Modi at the G7 summit in Alberta in June.
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The 2 international affairs ministers say a “robust and resilient Canada-India bilateral relationship is important” amid ongoing financial uncertainty and rising geopolitical tensions.
In September 2023, the Liberal government accused New Delhi of playing a role in the assassination of a Sikh activist close to Vancouver earlier that 12 months, and RCMP have since accused India of widespread criminality in Canada.
The chilliness started to elevate barely in June when Carney invited Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta and each international locations agreed to revive their prime diplomats.
As a part of her go to, Anand additionally met with the Indian Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, who stated he had a “productive dialogue” final Saturday with Canadian Commerce Minister Maninder Sidhu.
Sidhu says the 2 international locations can collaborate on clear expertise, agriculture and important minerals, whereas Goyal says commerce and funding “ought to be grounded within the ideas of mutual respect, belief and steadiness.”
Each international locations have agreed to enter closed-doors talks about safety considerations, which Canadian officers have stated are displaying progress in managing considerations about transnational repression with out these points dominating the connection.
Sidhu’s briefing binder, ready by World Affairs Canada in Might, notes that India has contributed to the issues within the world buying and selling order that Canada depends on, notably on guidelines outlined by the World Commerce Group.
“Negotiations of main curiosity resembling agriculture have lengthy been stalemated. A handful of obstructive members, led by India, routinely block outcomes negotiated and desired by most members,” the binder reads.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
