India and Canada’s relations will be back on track, know what was agreed upon after 9 months

Ottawa: India and Canada have agreed to re-appoint High Commissioners in each other’s capitals. This is being seen as an important diplomatic success. This decision has come at a time when the relations between the two countries had deteriorated during the tenure of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. This decision was taken in a bilateral meeting between Canada’s new Prime Minister Mark Carney and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G7 summit in Kananaskis.

Giving information about the meeting, India’s Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, ‘The Prime Ministers agreed to take sequential steps to bring stability in this important relationship. The first step will be that the High Commissioners of both the countries will soon be sent back to each other’s capitals. Other diplomatic steps will be taken over time.’

Trade talks will also resume
The stalled trade talks between the two countries were also discussed in the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mark Carney. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said, ‘Since trade talks are suspended at this time, both the leaders have decided to instruct their officials to restart this process as soon as possible.’ He said that both sides are keen to resume this dialogue and stay in touch. This conversation was aimed at restoring regular services for the citizens and businesses of both the countries.

The two leaders also discussed the long-standing mutual relations between India and Canada, expansion of trade relations and growing cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region. Apart from this, there was also agreement between the two countries to promote economic development through strong supply chain and clean energy partnership.

The controversy arose during Trudeau’s tenure
India-Canada relations deteriorated severely last year when the then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of an alleged ‘possible’ connection to the killing of Khalistani terrorist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

India outrightly rejected these allegations, calling them ‘absurd and motivated’. This led to a sharp diplomatic standoff between the two countries, in which diplomats were expelled and trade talks were halted.

In October last year, India expelled six Canadian diplomats and recalled several officials, including its High Commissioner Sanjay Verma.