Canada, India forging new strategic partnership: Carney
Washington: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that Canada and India are building a new strategic partnership across key sectors, including energy, innovation, and artificial intelligence, highlighting growing economic cooperation between the two countries.
Speaking to reporters during a press interaction in Sydney, Carney said deeper engagement with India reflects the changing global landscape and the ambitions of both nations to expand economic and technological ties.
“Canada and India are forging a new strategic partnership in energy, in talent, in innovation, and artificial intelligence,” he said, a day after he concluded his historic trip to India.
Carney said a comprehensive economic agreement between the two countries is expected to play a central role in expanding bilateral trade.
“Foundational to this partnership is the new comprehensive economic partnership agreement, which we aim to conclude this year,” he said.
The Canadian leader said recent discussions in India had already produced major commercial agreements.
“In India, we secured over $5 billion in commercial agreements,” he said.
He added that the agreements would deepen cooperation between Canadian and Indian businesses and attract investment into communities in both countries.
“These agreements will help double two-way trade to over $70 billion by 2030,” Carney said.
Energy cooperation is also part of the expanding partnership, including collaboration in civil nuclear energy.
“The government of India and KO’s $2.6 billion uranium supply agreement will support India’s civil nuclear energy program and our shared commitment to clean, reliable base load power,” he said.
Carney also highlighted cooperation in education and innovation.
“We also launched Canada Indian Talent and Innovation Strategy backed by 13 educational partnerships between our leading universities,” he said.
He said engagement between the two governments has increased significantly in recent months.
“There has been more engagement between the Canadian and the Indian governments over the course of less than the past year than in total over the past two decades,” he said.
The renewed engagement reflects changing global conditions and the ambitions of both countries to diversify partnerships, Carney said.
“This is a reflection of the world we face today and the ambitions of both our nations to build and diversify,” he said.
Carney was speaking during a press interaction where he took questions from journalists from several international and Canadian outlets. The Canadian leader is currently travelling in the Indo-Pacific region, where he is also scheduled to hold meetings with Australian leaders and business groups to strengthen economic and strategic cooperation.
India and Canada have been exploring broader cooperation in areas such as clean energy, trade, technology and education as both countries seek to deepen engagement across the Indo-Pacific.