Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to travel to Canada on December 11 and 12, marking a major milestone in the ongoing renewal of diplomatic and commercial partnerships between New Delhi and Ottawa. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the upcoming bilateral visit while addressing members of the Indo-Canadian diaspora in Calgary, indicating that the official itinerary will focus on Ottawa and Toronto, with discussions underway to see if the tour can be expanded further. The visit represents Prime Minister Modi’s first official bilateral trip to Canada since 2015, when he visited Ottawa, Toronto, and Vancouver during the tenure of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The diplomatic engagement comes against the backdrop of rapidly accelerating negotiations for a landmark Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Negotiating teams from both nations are working intensively to conclude the agreement before the leaders meet in December. The fifth round of trade talks recently concluded in Ottawa, and officials plan to meet in November to resolve lingering points while agreed clauses undergo legal scrubbing. A formal announcement regarding the conclusion of negotiations is widely expected during the summit. India and Canada have set an ambitious target to double two-way commerce to seventy billion dollars by 2030. In 2025, total bilateral trade in goods and services reached 30.4 billion dollars, with merchandise accounting for 13.6 billion dollars. Canadian exports to India, valued at roughly 3.9 billion dollars, are dominated by pulses, mineral fuels, oils, and wood pulp, while Indian exports worth 9.7 billion dollars include machinery, pharmaceuticals, precious stones, and metals. Energy purchases are projected to be a key pillar in expanding future trade flows.
Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Carney recently held a telephone discussion to review the positive momentum across strategic sectors. The leaders emphasized achieving concrete outcomes in trade, energy security, clean technology, artificial intelligence, and people-to-people connections. Modi characterized the exchange as warm and productive, highlighting the joint responsibility of both democracies toward fostering global economic stability. A readout from the Canadian Prime Minister’s Office reaffirmed their shared determination to finalize the economic pact at the earliest opportunity, while also praising the active engagements facilitated by the Team Canada Trade Mission currently visiting India. High-level diplomatic groundwork has intensified in tandem, with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand meeting Prime Minister Modi in New Delhi to finalize arrangements for the winter summit.
This diplomatic revival follows a sustained rebuilding process between the two nations following Carney’s election as Prime Minister in 2025. Ties had hit historic lows in 2023 following allegations made by former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau concerning the death of Khalistani figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar, accusations that New Delhi firmly rejected as absurd and motivated. A formal thaw began when Prime Minister Carney invited Modi to attend the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis. Confronted with global geopolitical shifts and trade frictions with the United States, Ottawa has actively prioritized diversifying its economic links across the Indo-Pacific, finding a willing partner in India’s fast-expanding market.
Following his scheduled engagements in Ottawa with government leaders and his interactions with top Canadian business executives and community groups in Toronto, Prime Minister Modi is slated to travel onward to Miami in the United States to participate in the G20 Leaders’ Summit. As the December deadline approaches, both administrations view the visit not merely as a symbolic reset, but as an opportunity to secure a high-impact economic framework designed to shape trade, technology, and investment cooperation for the coming decade.