Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau is set to begin his weeklong visit to India from his arrival on Saturday. He is expected to visit Agra, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, and Amritsar. This visit will be aimed at growing the stalled relationship between the two countries and solve India’s concern about the Indian origin people living in Canada. The major obstacle in front Mr. Trudeau is that he will accelerate the current relationship or he will kickstart the idling relationship between the two countries. The meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Mr. Trudeau will focus on methods to grow the still-small trade relationship between the two countries and the various concerns of Indians living in Canada.
Earlier visits from Indian side include Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visiting Canada in 2010 for attending the G20 summit and PM Modi visiting in 2015. Former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper had come to India for an official visit in 2009 and 2012 for discussing the relationship between the two countries. In the last decade, this visit by Justin Trudeau will mark fourth such visit by Prime Ministers of two large economies in the world. According to high commissioner to Canada from 2008 to 2012, Mr. Sahshishekhar Gavai, when Prime Ministers of two countries visit each other it clearly indicated that they want the bilateral relationship to grow further.
Mr. Shahshishekhar Gavai speaks highly of present Prime Minister Trudeau saying that an MP, he was a strong supporter of strong bilateral ties. Mr. Gavai, who arrived in Ottawa just after Trudeau, said that Mr. Trudeau always used to attend every Indian function and he put in a lot of effort in ethnic wear to mix with the crowd comfortably. Both Trudeau and Modi are charismatic leaders who understand the importance of good foreign relations and they are also good friends.
In 2017, India was Canada’s 8th largest destination for exports of merchandise and the trade between the countries amounted to more than $8 billion which was equally split between exports from India and imports into India. This visit by Canadian Prime Minister is a good time to discuss the various aspects of the democratic traditions, investment, and business.
PM Justin Trudeau will visit Tajmahal with his family on Sunday. This world-famous monument of love was built for Mumtaz Mahal by emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his wife. In his later visit to Amritsar, Punjab CM Amarinder Singh was expected to receive Mr. Trudeau and will accompany him to Golden Temple, but this will not happen as Mr. Singh has accused members of Trudeau’s cabinet in the formation of Khalistan.
Canadian Prime Minister will also address students of IIM-Ahmedabad on 19th February. The institute said that this is for the first time that the Prime Minister of a foreign country will be visiting the IIMA and it was honored to have a visit from the Prime Minister of Canada.
