Says resolving the strained ties will take time, but both countries should work together in trade and become prosperous

While the diplomatic stand-off between India and Canada continues, Jennifer Daubeny, minister commercial, High Commission of Canada, New Delhi, said both countries should work together and make each other prosperous.

Speaking at the 9th edition of TiECON 2024 on Saturday, she addressed the “elephant in the room” while introducing herself. She said there was still tension between Canada and India, and resolving these issues will take some time. However, she was encouraged by the vision of business leaders present at TiECON, and hoped that the business relations between India and Canada will grow further.

“There is no shortage of opportunity between the two countries,” she said, adding that the Canada-India commercial relationship was valued between 130 billion Canadian dollars. She said Canada’s biggest pension funds and equity firms were investing money in India, and the Canadian capital was helping build a new India.

She added that numerous Indian companies had also established themselves in Canada and were benefiting from Canada’s free trade agreement with 56 countries, which formed around 60% of the global GDP. She also said it’s a testament to Canada being one of the best places in the world for quality of life.

“It’s a positive bilateral trade story between the two. We can help make each other more prosperous,” she added, stating this was why Canada’s trade commissioner service had set up eight offices across India. “We are here and looking forward to engaging with India,” she concluded.

Last year, in September, India had indefinitely suspended visa services for Canadian nationals following a diplomatic spat with Canada, triggered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s claim of a potential link between Indian government agents and the killing of Khalistani leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

In October, India resumed visa services in certain categories for Canadian citizens, excluding tourist, employment, student, film, missionary and journalist visas. These were later resumed for all categories of visas in November. Around 1,000 students from the tricity go to Canada annually for their higher studies.