Canada’s foreign minister has reaffirmed the status of India as a “key partner” for her country, a day after she accused greater powers of “walking away” from global economic cooperation and integration.
The readout said, “Building on nearly 80 years of diplomatic relations and strong people-to-people ties, the ministers welcomed the significant progress made on implementing the Canada-India roadmap, which sets out shared objectives across trade, security, energy, mobility, innovation and defence. Great powers want the rest of us to accept what we are offered. “We are exploring new opportunities with partners in the Indo-Pacific, the Gulf, and Latin America.
In a statement released by Global Affairs Canada on Sunday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand noted “India’s importance as a key partner” for her country as it was “one of the world’s fast-growing and most dynamic economies”. Jaishankar said they had a “productive discussion as we prepare to take the relationship to a higher level. It came a day after Anand addressed UNGA and said, “Great powers are walking away from global economic cooperation, and dismantling economic integration. Her speech echoed what Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has stressed as a “rupture” in the global system rather than a “transition. This includes building renewed partnerships with large economies, such as India and China,” she said. She said that as Canada could “no longer afford to be overly reliant on any one partner”, it was “diversifying” ties and “building stronger relationships with new and old partners alike, so that our people can enjoy peace and prosperity. “We will prioritise decisive, effective action by forging issue-based coalitions of nations that share a sense of urgency on common challenges,” she elaborated.
Anand’s statement was in the context of her bilateral meeting with external affairs minister S Jaishankar on Saturday on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly or UNGA on New York.
