Piyush Goyal to meet Canadian PM Mark Carney in Ottawa today as trade talks advance

COmmerce and manufacture government minister Piyush Goyal testament encounter canadian river Prime Minister Mark Carney in Ottawa on Monday, underscoring Canada’s push to deepen economic engagement with India as the two countries work towards a comprehensive trade agreement.Goyal will be in Canada from Monday to Wednesday. His call on Carney on the first day of the visit is a rare instance of an Indian Cabinet minister being received at that level in Ottawa.“The signalling that is happening with Prime Minister Carney meeting Minister Goyal show not just the intent but also the vision he has for India-Canada relations,” India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Dinesh Patnaik said.Goyal is scheduled for a series of ministerial engagements in Ottawa, beginning with a bilateral meeting hosted by Canada’s Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu. He will also meet Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand and Agriculture Minister Heath McDonald, while additional meetings are being finalised. He will be accompanied by a team of trade negotiators who will continue discussions with Canadian counterparts on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement or CEPA.Also Read | PM Modi’s five-nation visit secured key investments for India: Piyush GoyalOn Tuesday, Goyal will travel to Toronto for meetings with business and industry leaders. The Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC), in collaboration with Canada’s foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada, is organising the Canada-India Trade and Investment Forum, which will be jointly convened by Sidhu and Goyal.The C-IBC said Goyal is leading a delegation of around 100 Indian business leaders. “This mission represents the largest trade delegation India has ever sent abroad, underscoring the growing importance of Canada–India economic relations,” the organisation said.Patnaik said such a large business delegation would have been unthinkable a year ago. “That, in itself, is a success,” he said.Also Read | US team to visit India in June on trade pactPrashant Srivastava, president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, and Azhar Shamim, chair of its research committee, wrote in an opinion piece published in The Globe and Mail that the relationship had reached an inflection point. “This moment signals that the world’s most populous democracy and one of its most resource-rich G7 economies are moving decisively toward an integrated economic partnership,” they wrote.They pointed to Canadian direct and indirect investment in India exceeding CA$150 billion, while bilateral trade stands at just under CA$33 billion.When Carney met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in India in March, the two leaders launched negotiations on the CEPA and set a target of concluding talks by the end of the year. They also expressed hope that the agreement would help expand bilateral trade to CA$70 billion by 2030.