Canadian FM arrives today, strategic coop on trade & security on agenda

India and Canada will look at establishing a framework for "strategic" cooperation in areas of trade, energy and security during Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand's visit to New Delhi beginning Sunday.

Anand will hold wide-ranging talks with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal focusing on boosting bilateral ties in a range of areas, officials said. India will be Anand's first stop in her three-nation tour that will take her to Singapore and China as well.

In New Delhi, Anand will meet with Jaishankar and Goyal, as “both countries move toward establishing a framework for strategic cooperation on issues such as

trade diversification, energy transformation and security”, a Canadian readout said.

“Minister Anand will also travel to Mumbai, where she will meet with Canadian and Indian firms working to support investment, job creation and economic opportunity in Canada and India," it said. The Canadian foreign minister's trip to India comes over three weeks after Canada's National Security Adviser Nathalie Drouin visited India and held extensive talks with his Indian counterpart Ajit Doval.

Days after the Doval-Drouin meeting, Canada designated the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity for “violently targeting” certain communities and creating a “climate of fear and intimidation”.

The renewed vibrancy in the ties between the two countries followed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 summit at Canada's Kananaskis in June. — PTI