(MENAFN) India and Canada have agreed to restore and strengthen their relationship, which had sharply declined during the tenure of former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

On Monday, both nations announced that they had “reached consensus on a new roadmap” for their partnership following high-level talks between their foreign ministers in New Delhi.

During the meeting, Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar and his Canadian counterpart, Anita Anand, reaffirmed their dedication to rebuilding confidence and deepening cooperation in various fields. “In keeping with the priorities that the prime ministers of India and Canada had set out for bringing momentum to the relationship, both sides, based on mutual respect for shared democratic values, the rule of law, and a commitment to upholding the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, reached consensus on a new roadmap for India-Canada relations,” the two governments said in a joint statement.

The renewed push for engagement follows a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the G7 summit in Canada last June, where both leaders agreed to reset the bilateral relationship after years of discord.

“India-Canada bilateral relations have been steadily progressing in the last two months. We are working to restore and reinvigorate the mechanisms necessary to advance our partnership,” Jaishankar said.

Both ministers emphasized that amid global economic instability and growing geopolitical challenges, maintaining a “robust and resilient bilateral relationship” between the two countries is of significant importance.

Ties between India and Canada had soured after the G20 summit held in New Delhi in 2023. During that event, Modi reportedly expressed concern to Trudeau about extremist groups in Canada engaging in anti-India activities. The situation worsened in October 2024 when Canada accused Indian diplomats of involvement in the alleged targeting of Sikh activists, prompting both sides to expel each other’s diplomats and plunging relations to their lowest point in decades.

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