India and Canada to 'take relationship to next level' with PM Carney visit, says High Commissioner Dinesh K Patnaik

India's High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh K. Patnaik, has described the upcoming visit of Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney as a milestone in solidifying the partnership. Speaking to WION's Sidhant Sibal in Ottawa, he said, "This visit comes at a time when we can really put together all that we have been working together to reset the relationship and to take it to the next level". Patnaik emphasised the visit's symbolic weight: "Mark Carney's visit is a statement to the fact that our relationships are solid and that we want to take it to the next level."

Carney's itinerary includes stops in Mumbai for business engagements and New Delhi, where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Discussions will focus on ambitious partnerships in trade, energy, technology, artificial intelligence, defence, critical minerals, education, innovation, and people-to-people ties. The Indian High Commissioner noted progress since Modi's attendance at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, last July.

Full interview:

WION: How do you see India and Canada's relationship?
Dinesh K. Patnaik: This is a great relationship. If you really look at it closely, we share all values, all interests, together, and there is a multi-dimensional nature to this relationship. We do everything from students, education, AI, research, innovation, natural gas, energy, nuclear, high tech, you name it, any aspect of the relationship. We have a very close relationship together. Because of some problems in the past, things went down. But since Prime Minister Modi visited Canada in Kananaskis in July of last year, things have taken off. The High Commissioners were appointed in the middle of September, reappointed back, and since then, the last four months have been a whirlwind of activity putting together the relationship with the ministers leading from the front. Minister Jaishankar and Minister Anand have met five times in the last four months. Minister Sidhu has been having a large amount of discussions with Minister Goyal on the way forward. The two prime ministers met at the margins of the G20 and they have given us a mandate to sign a CEPA soon. So this visit comes at a time when we can really put together all that we have been working together to reset the relationship and to take it to the next level.

WION: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will be travelling to India. The Indian Prime Minister was in Canada last year. Kananaskis G7 was seen as the big icebreaker. How do you see the upcoming visit of the Canadian Prime Minister helping the relationship?
Dinesh K. Patnaik: This is very important because this relationship puts the focus back on what brings us together, on democracy, human rights, rule of law, freedom of the press, market economy, and the economic substance. We are signing deals on energy. We are signing deals on AI, on innovation, on students, on culture, on defence, on aerospace, on space, you name it. The relationship is so wide that I cannot even describe how many sectors we work together on. The financial sector is very important. The Canadian pension funds have invested more than $100 billion in India. We're looking for much more investment. We have the living bridge between both countries, 3 million plus Canadians of Indian origin in this country, out of a population of 40 million. So you can imagine how big a living bridge it is. So all these things put together, Mark Carney's visit is a statement to the fact that our relationships are solid and that we want to take it to the next level.

WION: So this visit, what can one expect in terms of outcomes? We have heard the buzz of the uranium deal, if you can perhaps talk about the outcomes.
Dinesh K. Patnaik: It's a comprehensive outcome that is going to come up. Its going to demonstrate that the relationship between India and Canada is multi dimensional nature, not just uranium or just economic or just cultural or just political. It's going to show the multi dimensional nature. When you see it, you will see it. It includes everything from Ai, innovation, critical minerals, energy, universities, culture, you name it. Everything is there. This shows the strength of the relationship, and even during when we think we're not very good between us. The last few years, business, people to people, students, none of it really collapsed. Everything we did. Of course, there was some sort of a pause, but nothing really went down and so it's time now for us to launch it and to achieve the true potential of the relationship between our two countries.

WION: Can we see that true potential in the trade terms as well? Because much was talked about the trade agreement. Where do we stand right now when it comes to having a trade deal?
Dinesh K. Patnaik: The trade minister are having conversation. And minister Goyal, is a very experienced minister, and having got some six or eight bilateral trade agreements already in his pocket. He did the India, EU trade deal which is probably the biggest deal, and everybody in Canada was really amazed, surprised and very positively inclined towards the kind of deal we made with the EU, because Canada has a similar deal with the EU. For India, having made this deal with EU, and it makes easier for India and Canada. We come with a lot of experience to the table. The Canadians are coming with lot of experience on the table. So I'm confident with both of us working together, we'll be able to achieve very good relationships.

WION: While the relationship is going very strong, there are concerns as well. There are concerns over Khalistani extremists getting space here in Canada, which has been the issue in the past as well. Has this issue been resolved? What's the Canadian side view? Are they taking care of Indian sensitivities?
Dinesh K. Patnaik: I think the Canadians were always sensitive to Indian concerns. Right now, much more than before. They are working with us. The visit of our NSA was extremely important. NSA Ajit Doval came here, had substantive meetings with the Minister for Public Safety and with his counterpart, Nathalie Drouin. And both of them have worked together to put in place a framework of activities where there will be bilateral discussions and dialog and cooperation and implementation on the ground of security concerns, on fentanyl smuggling, on Transnational Organized Crime, on violent extremism, on activities of terrorism, of illegal immigration, fraud, the whole gamut of security relationships, cyber security. So we are in a place where both countries are working together to assuage the concerns of each other, knowing fully well that we should not allow the use of our territory to foment trouble in the other territories.

WION: Regarding the Nijjar issue, it was once a dominant factor in the relationship, but it's no longer the main concern. What kind of cooperation can we expect moving forward, and what are our concerns in this regard?
Dinesh K. Patnaik: Nijjar issue is in court, so whatever has to happen is to happen in the court. We have always maintained that we will cooperate with Canada. We work together with Canada to make sure that the perpetrators, are brought to justice. So whole idea is we will work together with Canada, and this as aptly demonstrated when NSA Ajit Doval came just recently and had very good meeting with his counterpart and with the Minister for Public Safety, and they all decided that we will put in place a framework for greater security cooperation between both sides. It encompasses all aspects from violent extremism to transnational organised crime to drug smuggling to illegal immigration, fraud to cyber crime, everything would be put together to discuss. Essential part is, whenever there are security issues between any country, it's important that the agencies talk to each other and have interoperability and exchange of information. That's the reason we are also putting together liaison officers in each other's country to have real time discussions between the agencies as well.

WION: This includes Khalistani extremists issue?
Dinesh K. Patnaik: All issues are on the table, Canada has understood that is a threat in Canada, as it is to India, and I think they are very open about it and clear about it, that we would like to discuss with India all possible ways to make Canada safe for Canadians and India safe for Indians.