Justin Trudeau in India: All you need to know about the Canadian PM’s schedule
National security advisers of India and Canada met here this week, ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s seven-day visit to India from tomorrow which is aimed at further boosting strategic ties with a focus on defence and counter-terror cooperation.
The two NSAs prepared the ground for Trudeau and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intensify defence and security cooperation, and India’s concerns over rising Sikh radicalism in Canada are understood to have figured in the meeting held a couple days back, Canadian diplomatic sources indicated.
On trade, the sources said Canadian investments in India were likely to decline in absence of a mechanism to protect them and Trudeau and Modi may deliberate, during their talks on February 23, on making forward movement in firming up the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries.
The negotiators of both the countries met last week to overcome the hurdles in finalising the pact, the sources said, adding Canadian investments in India were around USD 15 billion in the last couple of years, and a free trade pact will further encourage investors from that country.
In 2017, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and India amounted to USD 8.4 billion, split equally between exports to and imports from …read more
