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Canadian PM Mark Carney may visit India in early 2026
The move is being described as an attempt to repair fractured diplomatic relations and focus on trade and investment opportunities.
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Prabhjot Paul Singh - Fri, 24, Oct 2025
- 00:39 EDT
- 27
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney makes an announcement during his Liberal Party election campaign tour at Nova Bus, in Saint-Eustache, Quebec, Canada April 15, 2025. / REUTERS/Carlos Osorio
After Foreign Minister Anita Indira Anand broke the ice by visiting India early this month, the decks are now being cleared for Prime Minister Mark Carney to accept an invitation from his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, to attend the AI summit in New Delhi next February.
The move is being described as an attempt to repair fractured diplomatic relations and focus on trade and investment opportunities amid a tariff war with the United States.
In an interview with a leading Canadian newspaper, Indian High Commissioner to Canada Dinesh Patnaik revealed that India has invited Mark Carney for talks with Narendra Modi early in the new year.
Dinesh Patnaik said:” If Canada wants to start negotiations, we would be more than happy to speed up things to do it in a fast way. You are looking at a minimum of $50 billion if we allow the proper environment for it.”
India and Canada have been in constant talks for more than 15 years to sign a free trade agreement.
Two of Carney’s immediate predecessors – Stephen Harper (Conservative) and Justin Trudeau (Liberal) - visited India twice during their tenures as prime minister. Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin (both Liberals) also visited India while in office.
Manmohan Singh and Narendra Modi have visited Canada, while the latter’s second visit was only early this year during the G7 Leaders’ summit in Alberta.
Until last year, bilateral trade between India and Canada hovered around $11-12 billion annually. In 2024, it recorded a major jump of 12.7 billion, reaching 23.6 billion.
Dinesh Patnaik said in the interview that India wants an early visit by the PM, saying, “It is a relationship we do not want to go downhill.”
Free trade talks had reached the final stages before differences began to surface. Canadians wanted the security of their investments, and India was promising fertile land with all the necessary infrastructure.
Relations went sour in June 2023 following the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which embroiled both countries in a diplomatic row that took the relations out of orbit. It is only in recent weeks that the ties have come back on track.
Patnaik emphasised in his interview that India is keen to buy Canadian oil and gas, nuclear power, battery storage, fertilisers, processed food, and agricultural products. India, he says, is also open for increased cooperation on AI and quantum computing.
Besides India, Canada is also eyeing the Indo-Pacific for expanding its trade. Before visiting India next year, Mark Carney has confirmed his visit to India Pacific later this month. He will travel to Malaysia, Singapore, and the Republic of Korea from October 24 to November 1.
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