Modi to visit Ottawa, Toronto, will see if it can be broadened out: Mark Carney

Modi will visit Canada Dec. 11-12 as both countries fast-track trade talks and seek to finalize a pact aimed at doubling bilateral trade by 2030.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Canada on December 11 and 12, his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney said, as the two sides fast-track talks for a trade deal ahead of it. Carney said the visit is likely to be to the capital, Ottawa, and Toronto.

“We will see if we can broaden it out,” Carney told a gathering of the Indo-Canadian community members in Calgary on Thursday. Carney also alluded to his telephonic conversation with Modi on Tuesday.

India’s High Commission in Ottawa announced the Modi visit schedule in a post on X. It said Carney and Modi spoke and agreed to build on the positive momentum in ties and work towards concrete outcomes in trade, energy, technology, security and people-to-people ties.

People familiar with Modi’s schedule said Modi will meet Carney in Ottawa and Canadian businesses and attend a diaspora gathering in Toronto before travelling to Miami in the US for the G20 Leaders’ Summit.

India and Canada are likely to announce the conclusion of negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). The fifth round of the trade talks ended in Ottawa last week. Officials are expected to review outstanding issues in November while the items agreed upon undergo legal scrubbing.

HT in May first reported on Modi’s visit. It will be his first bilateral trip since 2015, when he travelled to Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver during Stephen Harper’s last year as Canada’s Prime Minister.

Both sides have worked to repair ties after Carney was elected Prime Minister in 2025. Canada is keen on bolstering economic relations with countries like India amid its trade tensions with the US.

India and Canada launched the CEPA negotiations in New Delhi on March 2 when the two sides signed the terms of reference in the presence of Modi and Carney. The negotiations have moved swiftly since then. The first round of virtual talks was held in March 2026.

India is expected to purchase energy from Canada. Canada exports goods such as vegetables, mineral fuels and oils, and wood pulp to India worth $3.9 billion. It imports Indian merchandise worth $9.7 billion, including precious stones, metals, machinery, and pharmaceuticals.

India and Canada have been working overtime to finalise the trade deal before December. They are aiming to raise two-way trade to $70 billion by 2030. Bilateral goods and services trade between India and Canada in 2025 was $30.4 billion, with merchandise trade contributing $13.6 billion.

The trade talks have coincided with an improvement in the bilateral relationship, which fell to its lowest level in decades after former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian government agents of involvement in the 2023 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India described those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated.”

The process of repairing relations began when Carney invited Modi to attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis in June last year.

On Tuesday, Modi said on social media that he had a “warm and productive conversation” with Carney. The two leaders “agreed to build on the positive momentum in India-Canada ties and work towards concrete outcomes across key areas of our strategic partnership, including trade, energy, technology, security and people-to-people ties”, Modi added.

“Together, India and Canada are contributing towards a more stable and prosperous world,” he said.

A readout from the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office said Carney and Modi reiterated their “commitment to conclude negotiations” for CEPA “at the earliest opportunity, supporting efforts to double two-way trade by 2030”.

The two sides focused on the opportunity to build on “renewed momentum” in bilateral ties and welcomed increased engagement over the past year, including in areas such as finance, defence and security, and artificial intelligence, the readout said.

Carney and Modi appreciated the Team Canada Trade Mission currently in India. Canada’s foreign minister Anita Anand met Modi in New Delhi on Wednesday. In a statement on Thursday, Canada’s foreign ministry said she “looked forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi in Canada in December.”

Anirudh Bhattacharya is a Toronto-based commentator on North American issues, and an author. He has also worked as a journalist in New Delhi and New York spanning print, television and digital media. He tweets as @anirudhb.Read More