JOHANNESBURG – Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are reviving attempts at a comprehensive trade deal, which both countries started negotiating in 2010.
“The two leaders agreed to formally launch negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement,” Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told The Canadian Press at the G20 summit in Johannesburg.
She said the trade deal would include goods, services, investments, agriculture, digital trade, labour mobility and sustainable development, “to name a few,” and that negotiations will begin “as soon as possible.”
Anand said Modi and Carney discussed artificial intelligence, including “their mutual interest in furthering advancements in the use of AI and digital technology more generally.”
Canada and India launched talks 15 years ago for a compressive deal known as a CEPA, but downgraded talks to instead work on a sectoral deal that would only touch on specific industries, up until fall 2023.
“The leaders are both moving with alacrity to ensure that this CEPA is concluded as soon as possible,” Anand said.
In 2023, Ottawa suspended trade talks after going public with allegations from the RCMP that the Indian government was behind an assassination near Vancouver of a Sikh activist, followed by coercion and extortion.
At a news conference ahead of his meeting with Modi, Carney insisted Sunday that both countries are maintaining a security dialogue to share information, maintain sovereignty and rebuild trust. Earlier this year, federal inquiry branded New Delhi as one of the most active perpetrators of foreign interference in Canada.
“With respect to any forms of foreign interference, we have to remain vigilant — we are vigilant,” Carney said. He added that India is a reliable trade partner, even with occasional trade disputes.
Anand said both countries expect to be able to double two-way trade by 2030, to US$50 billion, and noted that Canada is India’s seventh largest trade partner for goods and services, and one of the largest foreign investors in India.
Canada on Saturday joined a trilateral agreement with India and Australia on advanced technologies.
Carney is likely to visit India next year, but he did not indicate when. One possibility is a February summit in New Delhi on AI, where Canada is leading a working group
When asked the best time for a visit, Anand said both countries currently share many of the same concerns.
“The focus right now is on ensuring that we are securing investments that bolster the Canadian economy,” she said. “Both countries are well aware of the fact that the global trading order is being realigned, and that the volatility in the geopolitical environment is also conspicuous.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 23, 2025.
