India has agreed to readmit Canadian diplomats, Anand says – National
Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand says India has agreed to readmit a full cohort of Canadian diplomats, a year after New Delhi forced Ottawa to send most of its envoys home.
Anand met Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and senior Indian officials, who invited her to be the first Canadian cabinet minister to visit after two years of diplomatic strain.
The two countries have signed a statement outlining areas where they want to co-operate, such trade and artificial intelligence, but Anand said this work will happen only gradually.
Speaking from Mumbai, Anand said re-establishing Canada’s full cohort of diplomats was one step Ottawa needed to see completed before it considers a trade mission or revives talks on a possible trade deal, which have ebbed and flowed since 2010.
Anand said Canada will at all times defend the security of Canadians, after Canadian officials repeatedly flagged New Delhi as a major source of transnational political repression.
Canadian officials insist they are working gradually to rebuild trust with India, work that started with Prime Minister Mark Carney hosting Modi at the G7 summit in Alberta in June.
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The two foreign affairs ministers say a “strong and resilient Canada-India bilateral relationship is essential” amid ongoing economic 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 near Vancouver earlier that year, and RCMP have since accused India of widespread criminality in Canada.
The chill began to lift slightly in June when Carney invited Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta and both countries agreed to restore their top diplomats.
As part of her visit, Anand also met with the Indian Trade Minister Piyush Goyal, who said he had a “productive discussion” last Saturday with Canadian Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu.
Sidhu says the two countries can collaborate on clean technology, agriculture and critical minerals, while Goyal says trade and investment “should be grounded in the principles of mutual respect, trust and balance.”
Both countries have agreed to enter closed-doors talks about security concerns, which Canadian officials have said are showing progress in managing concerns about transnational repression without those issues dominating the relationship.
Sidhu’s briefing binder, prepared by Global Affairs Canada in May, notes that India has contributed to the problems in the global trading order that Canada relies on, particularly on rules outlined by the World Trade Organization.
“Negotiations of major interest such as agriculture have long been stalemated. A handful of obstructive members, led by India, routinely block outcomes negotiated and desired by most members,” the binder reads.
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