India, Canada to resume diplomatic services, name new High Commissioners

PM Narendra Modi and Canadian PM Mark Carney agreed to designate new high commissioners, with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries

India and Canada have agreed to designate new high commissioners, with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held bilateral discussions on the margins of the G7 Leaders' Summit here Tuesday.

A statement issued by the office of the Canadian Prime Minister said that Carney and Modi reaffirmed the importance of Canada-India ties based upon mutual respect, the rule of law, and a commitment to the principle of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The leaders agreed to designate new high commissioners, with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries, the statement said. 

The two leaders also discussed strong and historic ties between the peoples, partnerships in the Indo-Pacific, and significant commercial links between Canada and India including partnerships in economic growth, supply chains, and energy transformation.

Carney raised priorities on the G7 agenda, including transnational crime and repression, security, and the rules-based order, the statement said adding that the leaders also discussed opportunities to deepen engagement in areas such as technology, the digital transition, food security, and critical minerals.

In October last year, India expelled six Canadian diplomats and announced it was withdrawing its High Commissioner Sanjay Verma and other "targeted" officials from Canada after strongly dismissing Ottawa's allegations linking the envoy to a probe into the killing of Sikh extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a major downturn in already frosty ties between the two nations.

Verma was declared a "person of interest" by Canada in its investigation into the June 2023 killing of Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who has been declared a Khalistani terrorist by India. Before Canada could take further action, New Delhi recalled Verma and five other diplomats, who were also similarly named.

"This is the pits. This is the most unprofessional approach to a bilateral relation. There are diplomatic tools available in the hands of a diplomat. Those tools could have been used" instead of seeking to interrogate a country's top envoy and other diplomats, Verma had said in an interview with PTI Video.