Prime Minister Narendra Modi may visit Canada before the end of this year to conclude the free trade agreement currently being negotiated, the country’s top Indian diplomat said.
Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the launch of negotiations towards the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement when they met in New Delhi in March during the latter’s first bilateral visit to India.
Two rounds of negotiations have concluded and the third will begin in the coming weeks in Ottawa.
Timings for Modi’s visit are under discussion. “We expect his visit by the end of the year or by the beginning of next year,” Indian High Commissioner for Ottawa Dinesh Patnaik told HT.
When the visit takes place, it will be the first independent bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Canada since April 2015, when Stephen Harper led Canada. Modi never visited the country during Justin Trudeau’s decade-long tenure as Canadian Prime Minister. Modi came to the country in June last year to attend the G7 leaders’ summit in Kananaskis, to which Carney invited him. This invitation and their meeting on the sidelines of the summit in the Alberta resort led to a reset of bilateral relations.
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Patnaik was present at a reception organized by the Canada India Foundation for trade visit Piyush Goyal in Toronto on Wednesday evening.
Addressing the gathering, Goyal said: “We have witnessed a serious political reset in our relationship. We are both vibrant democracies that believe in the rule of law. We have confidence that we will not go wrong, whether in Canada or in India, and justice will prevail, whatever the circumstances.” This was his last participation in Canada before he traveled to the United States on Wednesday evening.
Goyal met with Carney in Ottawa on Monday, where the latter sought to set an expedited timetable for the conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership negotiations, expressing his desire to conclude the talks by the end of November.
If that happens, it will pave the way for Modi’s visit to finalize the deal with Karney.
Patnaik described Goyal’s visit as “very successful”, but stressed that what was more important were the “signals” sent about “a complete reset of the relationship”.
Between June and the end of this year, there will be continuous traffic at the highest levels between the two countries, with many ministers from both sides expected to travel to strengthen sectoral relations.
