{"id":509101,"date":"2026-03-02T08:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509101\/"},"modified":"2026-03-02T08:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T08:32:14","slug":"carney-signs-deals-worth-billions-in-diplomatic-breakthrough-with-indias-modi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/509101\/","title":{"rendered":"Carney signs deals worth billions in diplomatic breakthrough with India’s Modi"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Prime Minister Mark Carney and his Indian counterpart announced Monday what they\u2019re a calling a \u201cnew partnership,\u201d a series of multi-million dollar deals and a commitment to sign a free trade agreement by year\u2019s end as the two look to turn the page on years of frosty bilateral relations marked by allegations of Indian foreign interference.<\/p>\n

In a statement to reporters after a one-on-one meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the colonial-era Hyderabad House in Delhi\u2019s diplomatic core, Carney said Canada is going all-in on diversifying trade. What\u2019s been agreed to after these leaders\u2019 talks is designed to more than double two-way trade to some $70 billion a year by 2030, he said, as Canada continues a push to reduce its dependence on the U.S.<\/p>\n

Carney framed this new course as not just a return to how things were but rather an ambitious revisioning of what the two Commonwealth countries can do together in an uncertain era marked by instability. At the centre of this more robust relationship will be a\u00a0Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement \u2014 a free trade deal \u2014 that Carney said the two sides hope to\u00a0sign by December, which will offer Canada exports relief from Indian tariffs that are quite high on some goods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight \u2014 a partnership between two confident countries charting our course for the future,\u201d Carney said alongside Modi as the two delivered statements.<\/p>\n

Modi, who is notoriously media shy, and has taken part in only a handful of press conferences \u2014 none of them solo \u2014 over the last 15 years or so, did not take questions about what amounts to a huge foreign policy shift for both countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Reading prepared remarks, Modi was effusive in his praise of Carney, noting his leadership at two central banks and saying the only reason the two countries are on a better footing is because of his leadership. <\/p>\n

\u201cI credit my friend Prime Minister Carney for the growing momentum in every area of cooperation,\u201d Modi said in Hindi. \u201cThis vision inspires us to move forward in every field. Unlocking the full potential of economic cooperation is our priority.\u201d <\/p>\n

WATCH | Energy-hungry India keen to buy Canadian exports :\"\"<\/p>\n

Energy-hungry India keen to buy Canadian exports<\/p>\n

Canadian energy is expected to be one of the key discussions during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s trip to India, as the two countries work to rebuild a tense relationship. <\/p>\n

Some Indian diplomats were dramatically expelled from Canada after former prime minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian agents<\/a> of involvement in the murder of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was a supporter of an independent Khalistan state. The RCMP subsequently alleged India was behind incidents of extortion and violence on Canadian soil.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, with Carney at the helm, the relationship has become friendlier with much more diplomatic dialogue \u2014 with even more to come after the prime minister invited Modi to visit Canada sometime soon.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Beginning of a prosperous, new relationship’<\/p>\n

According to the Prime Minister\u2019s Office, there has been more engagement between the Canadian and Indian governments this year than there has been in any year of the past two decades.<\/p>\n

That paved the way for what Carney and Modi signed today: five memorandums of understanding expanding Canada-India partnership across energy and critical minerals, technology and AI, talent, culture and defence worth $5.5 billion in total.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most significant is a $2.6 billion deal between the Government of India and Saskatoon-based Cameco to supply nearly 22\u00a0million pounds of uranium for nuclear energy generation from 2027 to 2035. That\u2019s a big boon for Saskatchewan, which sits on one of the world\u2019s largest reserves of high-grade uranium.<\/p>\n

The other deals, some of which were previously announced by the companies involved, are smaller in scale.<\/p>\n

Mumbai-based OCT Therapies & Research will manufacture more medicines in New Brunswick.<\/p>\n

HCL Technologies, a major Indian IT firm, will open new AI centres in Calgary and Mississauga, Ont., and expand an existing one in Vancouver \u2014 increasing employment from about 3,000 to 5,250.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jubilant Pharmanova, an Indian pharmaceuticals firm, will spend $155 million to triple production at a sterile injectibles plant in Kirkland, Que.<\/p>\n

B.C.-based coal producer, Elk Valley Resources, will sell 1.2 million tonnes of coal to India worth hundreds of millions of dollars.<\/p>\n

Saskatchewan separately announced that it has created a \u201cjoint pulse protein centre of excellence\u201d with India. These farm products\u00a0have been at the centre of past disputes because India slapped huge tariffs on Canadian peas and lentils. The press release announcing this new centre mentioned nothing about possible tariff relief for these agri-food imports.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Canadian investment in India: McCain Foods will spend $135 million to expand its potato-processing plant in Gujarat, among other deals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThese agreements are the beginning of a prosperous, new relationship that will offer generational opportunities to workers and businesses in both of our nations,\u201d Carney said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And as questions continue to swirl around India\u2019s alleged involvement in harassing Canadian Sikhs, the PMO said both Carney and Modi have \u201cagreed to advance bilateral cooperation on security and law enforcement.\u201d Those efforts will focus on curbing the flow of illegal drugs, notably fentanyl precursors, and cracking down on transnational organized crime networks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime Minister Carney also underscored that Canada will continue to take measures to combat transnational repression,\u201d according to a backgrounder on the Modi meeting shared with reporters.\u00a0 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 5 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509102,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-509101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=509101"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509101\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509102"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}