Trudeau sees 'opportunity' in interacting with PM Modi-led government amid tense relations

Amid tense relations between the two nations, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated that he saw an "opportunity" to interact with the new Indian government.

His comment comes days after he met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Italy for the G7 Summit. He added that there are "really important economic ties" between Canadaand India.

On Friday, Prime Minister Modi shared a photo of the two leaders shaking hands on social media along with the brief caption, "met Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the G7 Summit."

This meeting, which happened on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Apulia, southern Italy, is the first one since Trudeau's September allegation of "potential" Indian agent involvement in the murder of Khalistani terroristHardeep Singh Nijjar.

Trudeau, back in Ottawa, told CBC News that one of the great things about the Summit is that "you get an opportunity to engage directly with a huge range of different leaders with whom there are various issues, and certainly with India, there are massive people-to-people ties, they're really important economic ties."

"There's alignment on a number of big issues that we need to work onas democracies as a global community. But now that he (Modi) is through his election, I think there is an opportunity for us to engage, including on some very serious issues around national security and keeping Canadians safe and the rule of law that we will be engaging," Trudeau added.

In response to a question about whether he had seen an improvement in India's cooperation with the Canadian investigation into the death of Nijjar in Surrey, British Columbia, Trudeau stated, "There is work ongoing very much."

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) vehemently denied Trudeau's accusations from the previous year, calling them "absurd and motivated".

India has claimed that Canada's allowance of pro-Khalistan elements operating from Canadian land with impunity is the primary point of contention between the two nations.

India has expressed its "deep concerns" to Canada on many occasions, and New Delhi anticipates that Ottawa would act decisively against such elements.

Nijjar's murder is being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. So far, the RCMP has detained four Indian nationals in connection with this case.

(With inputs from agencies)