India, Canada discuss contours of negotiations towards comprehensive economic partnership agreement

Toronto: republic of india and Canada’s merchandise ministers held a virtual get together on midweek to discuss the contours of forthcoming negotiations towards a comprehensive economical partnership agreement (CEPA).

The meeting was held between India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Canada’s Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu. Goyal also agreed to lead a high-level trade and investment delegation to Canada in the new year.

In a post on X following the meeting, Goyal said, “We undertook initial scoping and broad discussions on the overall approach, contours, macro objectives and modalities as part of preparations for the launch of CEPA negotiations.” He described the discussion as “productive”.

In a post, Sidhu said he met with Goyal to “further strengthen the commercial ties between Canada and India” and that they “discussed preparations to launching negotiations on a new Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)”.

He also looked forward to welcoming Goyal and his trade and investment delegation next year.

Goyal’s visit will be among at least three by Indian ministers in the early months of next week as the two countries engage in ministerial dialogues across sectors.

The announcement that fresh negotiations will be launched towards the CEPA came after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G20 summit in Johannesburg last month.

Prior to the bilateral with Modi in Johannesburg, Carney described India as reliable trade partner but underscored the need for a trade deal. “The ability to have more effective trade with them, to scale that trade with them, would be greatly helped by that,” he stressed.

He said Canada has a “strong commercial relationship with India with Canadian companies “one of the largest foreign investors”. In that context, he said, “What we’re looking to do is put that down on a sound footing through a potential trade agreement.”

India and Canada worked on a CEPA earlier but that was dropped in favour of the Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA) in 2022, so they could capture low-hanging fruit. After several rounds of negotiations, Canada “paused” talks in August 2023, just weeks before then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in the House of Commons on September 23 that year that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar three months earlier in Surrey, British Columbia. India described those accusations as “absurd” and relations cratered.

A gradual reset was set in motion after Carney assumed charge as PM this year, with the breakthrough in relations coming when he held a bilateral with Modi on the margins of the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis in June. Since then, the relationship has gained momentum.

Carney is expected to visit India in the first quarter of next year to give further momentum to bilateral ties.

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