Toronto: A senior Canadian leader has said the “important conversations” around trade ties with India will be enabled by the return of High Commissioners to the capitals of the two countries.
Federal Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu told the agency Canadian Press that the eventual return of top envoys will help “to carry out those very important conversations”.
He also said Canada is taking a “step-by-step approach” towards repairing the relationship with India, a point that has also been underscored by Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand.
In July, Sidhu told the outlet CBC News that his constituents and Canadians at large are asking for “more connectivity between Canada and India”.
“My primary role as Canada’s top salesman is to be out there hustling, opening doors for businesses and accessing new markets,” Sidhu said to Canadian Press, adding that he will lead leaner trade missions abroad and focus on sector-specific agreements.
Canada and India expect to have High Commissioners in place in New Delhi and Ottawa within the next four to six weeks, filling a vacuum that has been in place since October last year. Canada has not had a High Commissioner in New Delhi since last summer when Cameron MacKay left the post. India’s withdrew its High Commissioner in Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma in October last year, along with five other officials, after Canada asked New Delhi to waive their diplomatic immunity so they could be questioned in relation to violent criminal activity in the country. In retaliation, India also expelled six Canadians diplomats including its then Acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler.
India and Canada held several rounds of negotiations towards a potential Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) but talks were “paused” by Ottawa in August 2023, just about a month prior to then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar three months earlier in Surrey, British Columbia. India described those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated” and ties cratered in the aftermath.
However, last month, dialogue resumed, with Indian and Canadian officials participating in roundtables in Ottawa and Toronto, which were organised by the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC).
The governments appear to have specific sectors in mind, as after the Ottawa meet, India’s Acting High Commissioner Chinmoy Naik “emphasised deepening India-Canada commercial & investment relations, especially by exploring untapped opportunities in areas such as AI, clean energy, agri & fin-tech and critical minerals”, according to a post from the High Commission on X.
Experts tackling the relationship have sensed the adjustment in the nature of possible trade arrangements, as Vina Nadjibulla, vice-president for research and strategy at the Asia-Pacific Foundation of Canada said, “While formal trade negotiations may need to wait till early next year, we could see discussions in specific sectors and high-level dialogue and exchanges at the level of ministers and senior officials this fall.”
Ajay Bisaria, former Indian High Commissioner to Ottawa, felt the two sides will make” cautious moves” before resumption of dialogue on a trade agreement, though, in the interim, there will be focus on cooperation in specific sectors like artificial intelligence, critical minerals, LNG and auto parts.
