Resetting ties: Canadian FM Anita Anand to visit India
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: After months of deteriorating bilateral ties, Canada and India are exploring ways to bring their relations back on track with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s visit to New Delhi and Mumbai, starting Sunday.
During the key visit, she will hold talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to strengthen bilateral ties, the media reported on Saturday.
India and Canada will explore a framework for “strategic” cooperation in trade, energy, and security during Anand’s visit to New Delhi.
New Delhi marks Anand’s first stop on a three-nation tour that will also take her to Singapore and China.
In India, she will meet Dr. Jaishankar and Goyal as both countries “move toward establishing a framework for strategic cooperation on issues such as trade diversification, energy transformation and security”, according to a statement by the Canadian government.
Anand will also visit Mumbai to meet Canadian and Indian firms involved in investment, job creation, and economic opportunities in both countries.
Her visit comes three weeks after Canada’s National Security Advisor Nathalie Drouin held talks with her Indian counterpart Ajit Doval in New Delhi. Shortly thereafter, Canada designated the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity for “violently targeting” communities and creating a “climate of fear and intimidation.”
The renewed momentum in bilateral ties follows Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s discussions with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G-7 summit in Canada in June this year.
Bilateral relations between the two democracies had hit a new low since September 2023 when the then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a potential Indian link to the killing of Khalistani militant and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil in June that year, a claim India called “absurd.”
Amid deteriorating relations, in October 2024, India recalled its High Commissioner and five diplomats after Ottawa tried to link them to the Nijjar case.
However, Carney’s victory in the April 2025 parliamentary elections resumed the process of resetting relations. Both countries have now posted their High Commissioners in each other’s capitals and agreed to revive several mechanisms to advance cooperation.
After India, Anand will travel to Singapore to meet her counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan to deepen Canada’s cooperation with a key Southeast Asian partner.
In China, she will meet Foreign Minister Wang Yi to continue engagement as Canada and China mark 55 years of diplomatic relations. “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,” the statement said.
The ministers are expected to discuss the Canada-China Strategic Partnership, the evolving bilateral and global context, and issues relevant to the Canadian economy.
