Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand Visits India On Sunday — What's On The Agenda?

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand is all set to visit India on Sunday. Over her visit, the minister will meet her Indian counterpart S Jaishankar along with Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss a framework for "strategic" cooperation with India, as per reports.

Anand is looking to explore areas such as trade, energy and security to establish for the framework and will also hold extensive discussions with the External Affairs Minister (EAM) Jaishankar and Goyal to boost bilateral ties in a variety of other areas as well.

India will be Anand's first stop in her three-nation tour that will take her to Singapore and China as well.

In New Delhi, 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 stated.

"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 trip to India comes over 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 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, Anand will meet her Singaporean 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 engagement on the bilateral relationship as Canada and China mark 55 years of establishing diplomatic ties, it said.

"This meeting builds on the commitment made by Prime Minister Mark Carney and the Premier of China, Li Qiang, to regularise channels of communication between the two countries," it said.

"The ministers will discuss the Canada-China Strategic Partnership, the evolving bilateral and global context, as well as issues of importance to the Canadian economy," it added.

(With PTI inputs)