Canadian PM Mark Carney''s first official visit to India aims to strengthen bilateral ties, explore new partnerships

As per the MEA release, Carney will arrive in Mumbai on February 27. Over the next two days, he will participate in separate business engagements, interact with Indian and Canadian CEOs, industry and financial experts, innovators, educators, and Canadian Pension Funds based in India.

On March 1, the Canadian Prime Minister will travel to New Delhi. Delegation-level talks between the two leaders are scheduled for March 2 at Hyderabad House.

According to the MEA, the discussions will review progress under the India-Canada Strategic Partnership, building on earlier meetings between the two leaders in Kananaskis in June 2025 and Johannesburg in November 2025. The talks will cover key areas of cooperation, including trade and investment, energy, critical minerals, agriculture, education, research and innovation, as well as people-to-people ties. Regional and global developments are also expected to figure in the discussions.

Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Carney will also attend the India-Canada CEOs Forum on March 2.

The MEA noted that the visit comes at an important juncture in the normalisation of India-Canada bilateral relations. Both leaders have previously agreed to pursue a constructive and balanced partnership grounded in mutual respect for concerns and sensitivities, strong people-to-people ties, and growing economic complementarities.

The forthcoming meeting, the MEA said, will provide an opportunity to reaffirm the positive momentum and shared vision of India and Canada in building a forward-looking partnership.

In a significant shift in its position, the Canadian federal government has said that it now believes India is no longer linked to violent crimes in Canada. A senior official said this during a media briefing ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney''s upcoming visit to India, the Toronto Star reported.

The statement came during a briefing with journalists ahead of Carney''s trip, with senior government officials, cited by the Canadian English daily Toronto Star.

"We have a very robust diplomatic engagement, including between national security advisers, and I think we can say we''re confident that that activity is not continuing," one of the senior officials, who did not want to be named, said on Wednesday.

According to the report, the statement suggests that Canadian authorities do not see ongoing foreign interference or violent activity tied to India at present.

Carney will travel to India, Australia and Japan from February 26 to March 7, an official statement from Carney''s office said on Monday.

The remarks come as Carney prepares for stops in Mumbai and New Delhi, where he is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The visit is being framed as part of Ottawa''s effort to pursue a more "pragmatic" foreign policy and deepen economic ties with India, the world''s most populous country.

Relations between the two countries deteriorated sharply after the June 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a gurudwara in British Columbia. Months later, then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there was "credible" evidence linking agents of the India government to Nijjar''s death, an allegation New Delhi strongly denied.

The dispute led to the expulsion of diplomats from both countries and a prolonged diplomatic standoff. In 2024, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) further claimed that Indian government agents were linked to violent crime in Canada, including death threats and alleged involvement in homicides.

However, officials briefing reporters this week suggested that previous concerns about active foreign interference or repression linked to India are no longer ongoing.

"I really don''t think we''d be taking this trip if we thought these kinds of activities were continuing," a senior government official said.

India''s High Commissioner to Ottawa, Dinesh Patnaik, told the Star that disagreements should be handled through dialogue rather than by damaging the overall relationship, suggesting that Canada had overreacted when the allegations first emerged.

Earlier on Tuesday, speaking to ANI ahead of Carney''s visit to India and other Indo-Pacific allies, Patnaik said that the recent discussions between the two countries'' National Security Advisors, during NSA Ajit Doval''s visit to Ottawa, marked a significant step forward in strengthening bilateral security ties.

"This was discussed recently when NSA Ajit Doval visited Canada, and he had very extensive discussions with his counterpart, NSA Nathalie Drouin, as well as the Minister for Public Safety. And I think what they have put together is a wonderful action plan to take forward the security cooperation between both sides to address all issues--whether it''s fentanyl smuggling, whether it is transnational organised crime, violent extremism, illegal immigration fraud, cybercrime, or cybersecurity," the Indian High Commissioner said.

"We are looking at cooperation in all sectors. Both sides have understood that if we have to make Canada safe and India safe, we need to discuss and talk about all the issues, have liaison officers with each other, and have cooperation which is on time and online," he added. (ANI)