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Informist, Saturday, May 23, 2026

 

--Minister Goyal: To visit Canada, meet PM Carney to negotiate FTA

--Minister Goyal: Seek to import critical minerals from Canada 

 

NEW DELHI – Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will meet his Canadian counterpart Maninder Sidhu and Prime Minister Mark Carney next week, he said Saturday. He will be involved in a series of meetings between Monday and Wednesday in Canada, including negotiations on a free-trade agreement between the two countries.

 

India and Canada concluded the second round of negotiations for the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in early May. The next round of discussions was scheduled to be held in July in Ottawa, the Canadian capital. The minister will lead a large delegation of around 150 Indian business people on the visit. The delegation will speak with regional politicians as well as business leaders in Canada during the visit, Goyal said at a press conference in New Delhi.

 

"Both sides are working towards an early conclusion of a balanced and mutually beneficial CEPA by end of 2026, with a shared ambition to expand bilateral trade to Canadian dollar 70 billion (approximately INR 4.65 trillion) by 2030," the government said in a release. Bilateral trade was $8.5 billion in 2024-25 (Apr-Mar) and a free-trade agreement with Canada's $2.5-trillion economy will be complementary to India, the release said.

 

Goyal will seek investment in India from Canadian businesses as well as the Maple 8 group of pension funds in the visit to Ottawa and Toronto. India's government bonds have been included on marquee global indices tracking emerging market bonds operated by J.P. Morgan, Bloomberg, and FTSE Russell starting 2024. Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors have pulled out $22.75 billion from India's equity indices so far in 2026, according to latest National Securities Depository Ltd. data. 

 

Goyal highlighted the importance of partnering with Canada on critical minerals for the manufacture of vehicles and electronics. He also said the North American nation could help with India's plans for expanding nuclear energy as it is the second-largest producer of uranium in the world. India's delegation will also engage with Canada in other priority sectors like technology, artificial intelligence, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, aerospace and defence, and food-processing and agri-tech, the release said.  End 

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 95.69

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Aaryan Khanna

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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