Ottawa, June 19 (UNI) Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has said that exchanging high commissioners with India is a “basic first step” in restoring the diplomatic relationship with New Delhi.
Answering a media query on why his government has chosen to reappoint a high commissioner to India following talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Alberta,
PM Carney said:
“It’s a foundational necessary first step for the relationship, which is to exchange high commissioners, and re-begin effectively diplomatic service, or consular service.
“We have very deep ongoing ties, people to people, not just of Indo-Canadians but of Canadians with India. We don’t have a high commissioner in India right now, we are not serving Canadians in India right now, because of where we are. It’s reciprocal for the Indian government.
“So having a basic level of engagement is in many respects a duty of the government. I’m glad we came to the agreement understanding. It is also based on several things, the law enforcement cooperation, understanding of issues of transnational repression, which we discussed not just at the G7 but also in the conversation that PM Modi and I had.”
To a question on whether the two leaders discussed the issue of the killing of prominent Khalistani and Indo-Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 in British Columbia, over which issue the relations between the two nations had soured, PM Carney brushed it off, with:
“Look, I never make it a policy to give a line by line transcript readout of what exactly was said in the meeting, and I’m not about to start now.”
On June 6, the Canadian PM called up PM Modi to invite him for the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta.
Later on June 7, explaining his stance, PM Carney had said that India being the fifth largest economy in the world, having the largest population, and being central to very vital supply global value chains, deserves to be at the G7 Summit table, and that he had spoken to PM Modi to invite him.
“India is the fifth largest economy in the world, effectively the most populous country in the world, central to a number of those supply chains, at the heart of those supply chains, and so that (invite) makes sense.
“And in addition, bilaterally, we have now agreed, importantly, to continue law enforcement dialogue, so there’s some progress on that which recognises issues of accountability. I extended the invitation to PM Modi in that context and he has accepted.”
During their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 Summit earlier this week, the two leaders agreed to reinstate High Commissioners in their respective countries.
The two leaders also underscored the importance of “restarting senior ministerial as well as working-level engagements across various domains to rebuild trust and bring momentum to the relationship”.
They also discussed the importance of restarting the stalled trade negotiations.
Prime Minister Modi in a post on X, termed their meeting as an excellent one and added that the two prime ministers look forward to working closely to add momentum to the bilateral friendship.
“Had an excellent meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney. Complimented him and the Canadian Government for successfully hosting the G7 Summit.
“India and Canada are connected by a strong belief in democracy, freedom and rule of law.
“PM Carney and I look forward to working closely to add momentum to the India-Canada friendship. Areas like trade, energy, space, clean energy, critical minerals, fertilisers and more offer immense potential in this regard.”
UNI RN