India's commerce minister says Carney's visit 'completely changed' relations with Canada

India's commerce minister says Carney's visit 'completely changed' relations with Canada

Piyush Goyal is in Ottawa for meetings on trade and investment

India's Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal says Prime Minister Mark Carney's recent visit to his country paved the way for a complete overhaul of the Canada-India relationship.

Goyal is in Canada for meetings on trade and investment this week and met Monday morning with International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu.

Goyal said before the meeting the relationship between Canada and India will be very important in the coming years. He said both countries are keen to reach a free trade agreement in 2026.

Canada and India have been in trade talks since 2010. But those talks were shut down in 2023 after the federal government accused New Delhi of playing a role in the assassination of a Canadian Sikh activist in Surrey, B.C.

Carney, who made resetting relations with India a priority after he became prime minister in 2025, visited Mumbai and New Delhi in March. It was the first visit by a Canadian prime minister in eight years.

That trip concluded with a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the signing of a series of agreements — including a $2.6-billion deal to supply about 22 million pounds of uranium to India for nuclear energy generation, along with 10 commercial agreements worth more than $5.5 billion.

"I think this is a partnership that is being reset very, very rapidly," Goyal said.

The minister said Carney's visit "completely changed the way Canada and India looked at each other."

"It has set in motion the pathway to a complete overhaul of this relationship, setting new agendas, new goals," he said. "I can clearly see the speed and intent of both sides, Canada and India, is phenomenal when it comes to working together."

On top of the goal of securing a free trade agreement by the end of this year, Goyal said the countries are also working to triple their trade to $50 billion US by 2030.

Goyal is being accompanied on his trip by more than 100 senior business representatives from such industries as mining, energy, automotive and aerospace. India is calling it its largest-ever business delegation to Canada.

Sidhu said the countries have been engaging in what he called "WhatsApp diplomacy" and Canada will be sending a delegation to India to continue trade talks later this year.

"There's a lot of excitement to do more with India in terms of our economic partnership," he said. "It's going to be building on the meetings that we're having over the next 48 hours."

The Liberals have set out to double non-U.S. exports over the next decade and have boasted about signing 20 strategic trade and defence agreements around the world in the last year.

Carney has travelled to 25 countries on 17 international trips since March 2025.

Sidhu has said the government is looking to sign two other major trade deals before the end of the year — with the South American trade bloc Mercosur and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Catherine Morrison is a reporter for The Canadian Press.