The Canada-India Talent and Innovation Strategy launched on Saturday will be the first of a series of several sectoral agreements that will be signed during Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s ongoing visit to India.
The agreements will be across a spectrum of sectors, ranging from energy, agriculture, to trade and possibly even defence, a senior Indian official involved in the process said.
There will be a “large number” of such agreements, he added.
While Carney presided over the signing of the Talent Strategy on Saturday in Mumbai, the majority will be inked while he is in New Delhi and clinched in his presence and that of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Carney is scheduled to arrive in the Indian capital on Sunday evening.
During his address at the Canada-India Growth and Investment Forum in Mumbai, Carney described India as a “natural partner” for Canada, despite their differences in certain areas, and was optimistic about negotiations towards the comprehensive economic partnership agreement or CEPA being concluded this year. That viewpoint, of an accelerated timeline, has also been voiced by Canada’s Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu and Indian officials.
The launch of formal negotiations towards the CEPA will be announced on Monday following the bilateral meeting between the two PMs in New Delhi. Also on the agenda is the signing of a deal for a decade-long supply of uranium from the Canadian company Cameco to India’s nuclear power sector.
India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Dinesh Patnaik told the Hindustan Times prior to the beginning of the visit that “all aspects” of the bilateral engagement will be addressed among the deliverables during Carney’s visit. He cited nuclear, oil and gas, critical minerals, education, research, innovation, AI, defence, culture, aerospace, parliamentary cooperation and agri-foods, in that context.
“This visit is to show that India and Canada can interact on every possible sector and area that defines a relationship between two countries,” he noted.
The Talent Strategy agreed upon includes 13 new partnerships. “India is central to Canada’s Indo‑Pacific Strategy, and education and research partnerships with that country create innovation ties and long‑term cooperation,” Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry said, in a statement.