Canadian PM Mark Carney arrives in India to repair strained relationship

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney arrived in Mumbai on Friday for his first official visit to India, seeking to reset relations and deepen trade cooperation with New Delhi after ties deteriorated in recent years under his predecessor.

During his four-day trip, Carney is set to hold talks with business leaders and will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday.

India’s foreign ministry said in a statement Thursday that the meeting between the two leaders would offer an opportunity to reaffirm "the positive momentum and shared vision” for a forward-looking partnership. Talks between Modi and Carney are expected to cover cooperation in trade and investment, energy, critical minerals and technology, the ministry said.

Carney will also visit Australia and Japan next week, part of his effort to diversify trade away from the United States. Carney has set a goal for Canada to double its non-U.S. exports in the next decade, saying American tariffs are causing a chill in investment

Canada and India moved last year to advance a trade deal after two years of strained relations.

Ties deteriorated after Canadian authorities alleged that India was involved in the killing of a Canadian Sikh activist near Vancouver in June 2023. New Delhi vehemently denied the allegations and accused former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government of harboring Sikh extremists of the Khalistan movement. The movement, which aims to create an independent Sikh homeland, is banned in India.

Relations improved last year in June when Carney invited Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta.

Canada is not the only country that has accused Indian officials of plotting an assassination on foreign soil.

In 2023, US federal prosecutors accused an Indian government official of overseeing a foiled attempt to assassinate another Sikh separatist figure in New York.

A man from India admitted earlier this month that he conspired to hire a hitman to assassinate the Sikh separatist leader.

Associated Press