PM Modi Heads to Canada for G-7 Summit, Key Talks on Trade, Security Expected
PM Modi heads to Canada for G-7 summit after Cyprus visit; key bilateral with Canadian PM Carney expected amid efforts to reset ties.
New Delhi: After concluding his successful two-day visit to Cyprus, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday evening left Nicosia for Canada to attend the G-7 summit at Kananaskis, Alberta, where he will participate in the summit’s outreach session just past midnight on Tuesday-Wednesday (IST). Before the outreach session, Mr Modi will hold bilateral meetings with a few world leaders late on Tuesday night (IST) for more than an hour.
Following the outreach session that will last for about two and a half hours, Mr Modi will participate in another round of bilateral meetings for about an hour and a half in the early hours of Wednesday (IST). Earlier, the Prime Minister will land at Calgary International Airport on Tuesday morning (IST).
New Delhi has so far not officially disclosed the names of the world leaders with whom Mr Modi will have bilateral meetings. One certainty however is the bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister and G-7 summit host Mark Carney. All eyes will also be on any meeting between Mr Modi and US President Donald Trump, as the two nations are holding tough negotiations for a proposed bilateral trade deal.
India not a part of the G-7 grouping that comprises seven of the “largest” advanced economies in the world -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States, apart from the European Union. But given India’s global rise as a major economic power, Mr Modi has been invited for the G-7 summit for the seventh consecutive time. All G-7 nations with the exception of host Canada have very close ties with India.
The Prime Minister will also be meeting the G-7 leaders at the summit for the first time since India launched Operation Sindoor last month to hit terror targets inside Pakistan. This will also be the first opportunity since then to directly convey to the top leadership of the G-7 in-person India’s recent response to the scourge of terrorism apart from shoring up trade ties.
As India and Canada look to rebuild ties, the bilateral meeting between Mr Modi and his Canadian PM Mike Carney is likely to comprise a focus on trade ties as well as a “law enforcement dialogue” covering mutual security concerns, when India is expected to strongly push for a crackdown by the Canadian authorities on the violent activities of pro-Khalistan elements in Canada, who are carrying on an anti-India campaign targeting the Indian community and Indian diplomats there, and have also been trying to foment extremism and violence in Punjab in collusion with gangsters. Ties between India and Canada had deteriorated sharply from September 2023 onwards during the tenure of Mr Carney’s predecessor Justin Trudeau who had, as Prime Minister, accused India of involvement in the killing of Canadian citizen and pro-Khalistan extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June that year on Canadian soil. India had dismissed the Canadian allegations as “absurd”. The previous Canadian government led by Mr Trudeau had tried hard to pin the accusations of foreign interference and transnational crime on India using the Nijjar case. Despite Mr Carney wanting to rebuild ties, he will be under pressure to show that he is addressing Canadian national concerns with India. Nevertheless, following Mr Carney’s appointment as Canadian Prime Minister on March 14 this year, that was followed by his victory in the polls there, “the two sides have been in touch at the level of leaders and senior officials” to rebuild ties. Mr Carney had also called and invited Mr Modi earlier this month for the G-7 summit as a special invitee and guest country.
