Justin Trudeau’s discovery of India

Justin Trudeau’s discovery of India

Context:

• Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tried hard to expand his understanding of India and foster closer India-Canada relations.

Khalistan controversy:

• The Canadian delegation should have avoided the controversy concerning the Khalistan movement, but it was self-inflicted.
• It stemmed from the ruling Liberal Party’s soft approach on extremist and separatist activities in Canada.
• In its quest for votes of sections of the Sikh community in Canada, India’s basic interests were surprisingly given short shrift by the Liberals.

Important agreements signed:

• From the Indian viewpoint, the most important agreement signed during the visit is the “Framework for Cooperation between India and Canada on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism”.
• It commits the two nations to combating this phenomenon in all its “forms and manifestations”, and to facilitate “effective cooperation” on security, finance, justice, law enforcement and operations.
• Through further interaction, New Delhi is certain to ensure and monitor closely that Ottawa delivers on this commitment. Progress in this realm will spur positivity in other domains of mutual cooperation

Regional, bilateral issues

• The two leaders called for dismantling the infrastructure of support to terrorism “from across borders of Afghanistan”, a clear reference to Pakistan.
• The Maldives government was urged “to ensure early resumption of the political process.”
• On Myanmar, the need for voluntary, safe and sustainable return of the Rohingya refugees was stressed.
• Canada and India showed a common perspective on freedom of navigation and over-flight “throughout the Indo-Pacific region” and respect for international law, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
• Canada implicitly shared India’s reservations on China’s mega Belt and Road Initiative.
•  The two sides agreed on their analysis of the situation in the Korean Peninsula.
• They considered peacekeeping as “an effective response to global challenges”.
•  Mr. Trudeau extended strong support for India’s membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

Five Es:

• A business leader saw India-Canada cooperation anchored on five Es: economy, energy, education, entertainment industry linkages, and empowerment of women.
• Progress on two government-level agreements, one on investment and the other on trade was minimal as expected, but the two leaders directed officials to intensify their negotiations.

Other areas:

• India’s need for continued uranium exports from Canada and for state-of-art technologies relating to clean energy and renewables came through vividly in discussions.
• The decision to expand the scope of Ministerial Energy Dialogue  also took place.
• New Canada-India Track 1.5 Dialogue on Innovation, Growth and Prosperity was launched.
• This aims to establish contours of convergence through sustained research and brainstorming among experts, officials and business people.

India-Canada bilateral relationship

• The two sides had forged close cooperation on energy and trade, including a civil nuclear cooperation agreement and a commitment from Canadian pension funds to invest in India.
•  India and Canada have much in common as two pluralistic, diverse democracies with very strong people-to-people ties: there is an Indian diaspora of 1.3 million in Canada, besides 100,000 Indian students.

Way ahead:

As a capital, technology and innovation-rich economy and an open, inclusive and multi-cultural society, Canada is highly relevant to India. It is sharpening its role as a Pacific Ocean power. India’s commitment to peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific should deepen geopolitical affinity. Thus mutual interests are likely to impel the two nations to strengthen their strategic partnership. However, for this vision to turn into reality, the Canadian leadership needs to demonstrate greater sensitivity to India’s core concerns than what Mr. Trudeau could muster last week.