Washington: As India and Canada agree to create a new roadmap for the relationship, a leading expert in Canadian foreign policy believes that a “reset” is underway in the bilateral ties, and the visit of Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand to India was a “significant step.”
While speaking to IANS from Vancouver in Canada, Vina Nadjibulla, the Vice-President of Research & Strategy at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, termed the engagements “a big development.”
“This is a big development in Canada-India relations, which have come a long way since the low in the relationship a year ago. Exactly a year ago, Canada and India were expelling diplomats, and the relationship was in a deep freeze,” she added.
The Canadian Foreign Minister met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Monday in New Delhi, vowing to strengthen the ties.
“Both of our governments agree on the importance of elevating the relationship going further”, she said while meeting EAM Jaishankar.
After the talks, both sides issued a joint statement, promising to “take calibrated measures to restore stability in the relationship and to pursue a constructive and balanced partnership.”
They also agreed to re-establish bilateral mechanisms on trade, investment, and science and technology cooperation.
In the backdrop of the latest Chinese export controls on rare earths, both sides plan to hold the first Critical Minerals Annual Dialogue early next year and promote dialogue among “government, industry, and think tanks to identify how Canada’s mining expertise can provide India with critical minerals needed for energy security.”
Nadjibulla, who is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia, called it an “ambitious roadmap” and highlighted the potential of collaboration in the critical minerals sector.
“That was also already signalled by the two prime ministers in June. In fact, Prime Minister Modi joined the discussions on energy security and critical minerals. So, I think already it was going to be an important element, but the fact that now this joint statement explicitly names this area of cooperation… there’s quite a bit of momentum,” she noted.
Currently, both Canada and India face higher tariffs from the United States and are still in discussions with Washington to sign trade agreements. While acknowledging the “Trump effect” in bringing New Delhi and Ottawa closer, Nadjibulla argued that a change in leadership in Canada also opened the door for reengagement.
“The context matters, and both governments have noted that they are now very much prioritising economic resilience, de-risking of supply chains and diversifying their partnerships.
“I think there’s also the change in leadership in Canada and the recognition that for Canada to pursue its Indo-Pacific strategy, it needs a constructive relationship with India. And for India, there is a recognition that as it tries to build its economy without the sort of Chinese integration, it needs alternatives,” she emphasised.
Last month, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney indicated that the country would be looking to attract workers impacted by the H-1B visa crackdown in the United States.
However, the joint statement made no mention of visas or immigration. Nadjibulla said it would take “a little bit more time” to address those issues and but should expect a few announcements from Canada soon.
“There is a recognition that, especially in areas like AI and technology, there can be more that’s done between the two countries, so that obviously would involve also exchange of talent and movement of people. So I think it’s a space we should watch, especially in the lead up to the AI Action Summit, which is taking place in February in Delhi,” she pointed out.
Discussing Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, which highlights India as an important partner, Nadjibulla noted that while Canada is “more active, more visible” in the region, Europe and the Arctic continue to be its strategic priorities.
“It has signalled politically that it’s committed to being an active and reliable partner in the Indo-Pacific, but we now need to see how that strategy gets reprioritised or revised. I think there are questions as to how much bandwidth, how many resources Canada will be able to allocate to the Indo-Pacific. The early signals are that this government is prioritising Euro-Atlantic, Arctic and Indo-Pacific, in that order. So, it’s still number three,” she said.
Nadjibulla hoped that despite the constraints, India and Canada could still work toward realising the potential of their relationship.
“We are now seeing…quite a lot of momentum and energy behind restarting this relationship, but also building a much more resilient relationship. At the end of the day, this relationship has to work and be in the national interests of both countries and deliver jobs and investments and economic opportunities for both. There’s a lot of potential in there,” she concluded.
(IANS)
