Modi, Carney agree to fast-track trade deal ahead of December Canada visit

• Modi to visit Canada in December, Carney’s office says
• Leaders commit to concluding trade deal at the earliest opportunity
• Both aim to double two-way trade by 2030
• Visit marks recovery from 2023 diplomatic crisis over Nijjar killing

INDIAN prime minister Narendra Modi will visit Canada in December, Canadian prime minister Mark Carney’s office said Tuesday, after the two leaders spoke by phone and agreed to speed up negotiations on a trade deal.

Carney’s office said the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to concluding a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) “at the earliest opportunity,” supporting efforts to double two-way trade by 2030.

Modi described the call as “warm and productive.”

India-Canada trade talks gain momentum

“We agreed to build on the positive momentum in India-Canada ties and work towards concrete outcomes across key areas of our Strategic Partnership, including trade, energy, technology, security and people-to-people ties,” he said on X.

Trade mission and security talks

The leaders welcomed what Carney’s office called a “historic” Team Canada Trade Mission to India, led by International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu, and a visit to New Delhi this week by Foreign Minister Anita Anand.

They also discussed the impact of geopolitical instability on the Indo-Pacific and the need for trusted partners in energy and agriculture. Carney thanked Modi for his leadership in seeking a peaceful resolution to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The call came days after David Morrison, Carney’s senior diplomatic and international affairs adviser, met Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in New Delhi on October 6 for talks under the two countries’ bilateral security dialogue.

The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation on “transnational organised crime, terrorism and violent extremism, human and drug trafficking, cybercrime, extortion, and extradition of criminal offenders,” India’s Ministry of External Affairs said. They also discussed the “growing potential” for a substantive defense relationship.

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Previous rounds of the dialogue took place in New Delhi in September 2025 and Ottawa in February 2026.

From crisis to recovery

Relations between the two countries came under severe strain in 2023, when then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged a potential Indian link to the killing of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. India dismissed the allegation as “absurd.”

In October 2024, India recalled its high commissioner, Sanjay Kumar Verma, and five other diplomats after Ottawa sought to link them to the case, and expelled the same number of Canadian diplomats.

Ties began to recover after Carney’s Liberal Party won the April 2025 election. Both countries have since restored high commissioners, and relations have improved markedly since Carney visited India in March.

(With inputs from agencies)