India and Canada reset ties, agree on defence and energy cooperation

NEW DELHI – India and Canada have opened a new chapter in their relationship with Prime Minister Mark Carney’s visit to India, launching a new defence dialogue and expanding cooperation in energy and critical minerals. 

This reset in ties takes place amid growing global turbulence – and the latest threat of a

prolonged conflict in the Middle East

– which is redefining strategic relations between countries.

It caps Mr Carney’s efforts, since he came to power in 2025, to mend tensions over the killing of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil more than two years ago.

Mr Carney is on his

first official bilateral visit to India

, barely two months after visiting China.

Both countries have sought to diversify economic and political ties amid tariff threats and uncertainty from the US, which is both Canada’s and India’s largest trading partner.

India is the first stop of Mr Carney’s three-country tour, which includes Australia and Japan.

“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship; it is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus and foresight – a partnership between two confident countries charting our own course for the future,” Mr Carney said on March 2 at a joint press appearance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Following talks, the two sides signed an agreement to collaborate on critical minerals, fast-track trade talks and expand energy and defence cooperation.

A key outcome was a decision to accelerate negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, launched in November 2025 to double bilateral trade to US$50 billion (S$64 billion) by 2030.

The move comes on the heels of trade deals India has clinched with the European Union.

India and Canada will aim to conclude a free trade pact by the end of 2026, Mr Carney said.

For India, a key goal is to boost nuclear power to meet growing energy requirements, including for data centres. 

India’s Department of Atomic Energy and Saskatchewan-based Cameco, one of the largest global providers of uranium fuel, signed a 10-year contract worth US$2.6 billion for uranium ore concentrate supply.

A statement from Mr Carney’s office said Canada will supply nearly 10 million kg of uranium to India for nuclear energy generation from 2027 to 2035.

In 2025, around 3 per cent of India’s energy requirements came from nuclear power, according to the government.

Canada, the world’s second-largest uranium producer and exporter with around 13 per cent of total world production, behind Kazakhstan, had previously supplied India with uranium under a Nuclear Cooperation Agreement signed in June 2010.

India and Canada will also cooperate closely on critical minerals, with Mr Carney noting this would include securing their supply chains for clean energy, electric vehicles and advanced manufacturing.

Beyond trade and economic cooperation, Mr Modi and Mr Carney also agreed to boost defence cooperation, with Mr Modi announcing that the two countries will establish an India-Canada Defence Dialogue.

“Growing cooperation in the field of defence and security is a symbol of our deep mutual trust and the maturity of our relationship. We will work to enhance defence industries, maritime domain awareness and military exchanges,” said Mr Modi. 

Tensions over Sikh separatist murder

The recent warmth in ties comes after a period of strain that

resulted in a brief diplomatic breakdown

.

Tensions were triggered in 2023 after the Canadian government under then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused Indian officials and diplomats of playing a role in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh activist leader, who was shot dead in a gangland-style execution outside a Sikh gurdwara in the province of British Columbia.

Mr Nijjar was a key figure in the Khalistan movement, which seeks a separate state for Sikhs carved out from the northern Indian state of Punjab. The movement, which had triggered a violent insurgency in Punjab in the 1980s, was suppressed in India but its proponents among the Sikh diaspora remain active in countries including Canada.

India has designated certain individuals as terrorists. 

‘Behind closed doors’

Still, resetting ties between India and Canada is not without challenges.

The Canadian media reported that Canadian Security Intelligence Service director Dan Rogers as recently as Feb 3 cited “China, Russia, India and others” as active perpetrators of foreign interference targeting Canada. 

Analysts said the attempt is now to discuss these issues behind closed doors and protect the relationship from being derailed.

“I think there is a commitment now in New Delhi and Ottawa to build a forward-looking relationship even as the two sides manage more challenging aspects of the relationship in a quiet, diplomatic way behind closed doors, which is exactly opposite of what was happening under the Trudeau administration,” said Professor Harsh V. Pant, vice-president at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.

“This visit certainly shows both sides are serious about engaging each other in building a robust relationship going forward and insulating the relationship from some of the challenges,” he added.

Public opinion also remains largely in favour of engagement with India. A survey by the non-profit Angus Reid Institute in partnership with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a not-for-profit organisation, found 53 per cent of Canadians say it is the right time for Mr Carney to go on an official visit to India, and 57 per cent believe Canada should prioritise trade and investment generally in its relationship with India.

All this notwithstanding, the visit took place in the shadow of unfolding developments in West Asia, where the US-Israel strike on Iran has dragged the region into conflict. The longer the war continues, the greater the impact on the global economy.

At the World Economic Forum in Davos in January,

Mr Carney actively advocated a new “rules-based international order”

for middle powers and called for them, including Canada, to unite to counter the rise of hard power and the great power rivalry amid a “rupture in the world order”.

Against this backdrop, the two countries were crafting a forward-looking bilateral agenda, said Prof Pant.

“If you see the focus of the visit, it is on trade engagement, economic relationship and people-to-people ties. This is a more forward-looking orientation on both sides,” he added.