Canada's Foreign Minister Anita Anand to conduct 3-nation tour, starting with India

As ties between India and Canada improve, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand will embark on a diplomatic tour of India, Singapore, and China from October 12 to 17. The trip announced by the Canadian Ministry of External Affairs on Saturday would aim to advance cooperation and strengthen bilateral relations under Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy.

“Today, the Honourable Anita Anand, Minister of Foreign Affairs, announced she will travel to India, Singapore and China from October 12 to October 17 to advance bilateral relations and cooperation with these countries as part of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy,” the Canadian government said in an official statement .

Anand’s trip to India will commence on October 13, where she will meet her Indian counterpart, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal . The statement stated that both nations are working towards establishing a framework for strategic cooperation on key issues such as trade diversification, energy transformation, and security.

Canada & India attempt to improve ties

Anand’s trip to India is coming up at a time when Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government is making efforts to restore ties with India. As per the statement by the Canadian government, Anand will also visit Mumbai to engage with Canadian and Indian firms focused on investment, job creation, and economic opportunity across both nations.

The visit also came after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney in June on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, in Alberta. The two leaders held a crucial bilateral meeting aimed at reviving strained relations. After the meeting, Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri had said that the two leaders had a “very positive and constructive meeting” and agreed on “calibrated steps to bring stability back to the relationship”.

“Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada have just a short while ago concluded a very positive and constructive meeting on the sidelines of the G7 summit here in Kananaskis in Canada,” Misri had said at that time. The meeting aimed at underscoring the shared intent to reset the India-Canada relationship, which has faced recent tensions.

Amid the renewed engagement between the two nations, there have been appointments of new High Commissioners – Christopher Cooter as Canada’s envoy to New Delhi, and Dinesh K. Patnaik as India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa. Not only this, last month, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval also met his Canadian counterpart, Nathalie G. Drouin, and discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship in areas such as counterterrorism, combating transnational organised crime and Intelligence exchanges.

After her India visit, Anand would travel to Singapore to meet Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan to “further strengthen Canada’s cooperation with one of its most important partners in Southeast Asia,” the statement averred. In the final leg of her tour, she will visit China, where she will hold talks with her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

With inputs from agencies.