Toronto: India and Canada formally launched their inaugural Economic and Financial Dialogue in Toronto on Thursday as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that in a time of global uncertainties, the two countries could work together to bring predictability to global growth.
Canada is going through tariff turmoil amid a trade war with its southern neighbour, the United States. And Prime Minister Mark Carney has focused on diversifying Canada’s trade basket to mitigate the reliance on America. So this is very much our diversification agenda in action. We can be a very strategic partner to India when it comes to energy security, to food security. Sitharaman agreed. Economies like Canada and India can bring so much more predictability and certainty to the global growth”.
In his opening remarks as the Dialogue commenced, Champagne said, “Canada has been saying we’re going to be strong at home and diversified abroad. He said the two countries have “unique” complementarity. She said this was possibly the “best time to start this dialogue” between Canada and India “because global uncertainties being what they are and they seem to continue with severity. She also said that on food security, energy security, and also on critical minerals, on food security, energy security, and also on critical minerals, a relationship can be built between the two countries “that will go to the strengthening of our people’s purchasing power, ability to face supply chain disruptions, and it will be a conscious effort to address the concentration risks in global sourcing of commodities or intermediary products”.
“That is really the key message today. We had the privilege of hosting the minister yesterday for dinner,” the Canadian Finance Minister stressed.
That renewal started after Carney assumed charge as Prime Minister in March 2025 and invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis two months later. They have met twice more since, with Carney visiting India in February/March this year. Modi is expected to travel to Canada this December.
Sitharaman also referred to the reset in the relationship, describing it as a “wonderful time” for bilateral ties. The reset came after ties cratered following previous Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s statement in the House of Commons on September 18, 2023, that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, three months earlier. India had dismissed those accusations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
