Canadian FM in India to rebuild relations

NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Canada’s foreign minister in New Delhi on Monday, the most senior visit since both sides agreed to reinstate ambassadors after a bitter fallout.

“India-Canada bilateral relations have been steadily progressing in the last few months,” Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand, after her meeting with Modi.

“When we look at Canada, we see a complementary economy, we see another open society… that is the basis for a close, sustainable and long term cooperative framework,” Jaishankar said in brief comments broadcast by the foreign ministry.

Relations had deteriorated following Canadian accusations that New Delhi was involved in the 2023 assassination of a Canadian Sikh leader – claims India denied.

The diplomatic rift severely disrupted consular and trade services between the nations, which exchanged about $9 billion in goods and services in 2023.

Relations have improved since Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney took office in March.

Carney met Modi in June, on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in Canada, where they agreed to name new high commissioners, as ambassadors are known between Commonwealth nations. Both envoys have since begun work.

With US President Donald Trump upending global trade, both India and Canada have been much more agreeable about working together.

Anand is also expected to meet India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal and meet business leaders in the financial capital Mumbai.

Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside India.

That community includes activists for “Khalistan”, a fringe separatist movement seeking an independent state for the religious minority.

Ottawa accused India of orchestrating the 2023 killing in Vancouver of 45-year-old naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent Khalistan campaigner, and targeting other Sikh activists connected to the movement.

The Khalistan campaign dates to India’s 1947 independence and has been blamed for the assassination of a prime minister and the bombing of a passenger jet.

It has been a bitter issue between India and several Western nations with large Sikh populations.