With Prime Minister Narendra Modi having a packed schedule in January in terms of hosting heads of state and government, Justin Trudeau is expected to arrive in India in mid-to-late February.
TORONTO – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s long-awaited visit to India is likely to finally occur in the first quarter of 2018. However, while the Canadian government has communicated available windows for the bilateral summit, New Delhi is yet to confirm the dates.
With Prime Minister Narendra Modi having a packed schedule in January in terms of hosting heads of state and government, Trudeau is only expected to arrive in New Delhi in mid-to-late February at the earliest.
The recent trip by three cabinet ministers to India, described as a “historic trade mission” by Global Affairs Canada, also served to set the stage for rejuvenating bilateral ties.
But the proposed visit will also mean that Trudeau will have to deliver on the flash, since headline deliverables may be scant.
Though Canada’s international trade minister François-Philippe Champagne told the Hindustan Times earlier this month that a Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (FIPPA) is nearing completion, sources said India is unwilling to sign on to that in the absence of finalisation of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
Trudeau will be travelling to China in December and there is concern that if the spring visit next year does not materialise, then the chances of the two prime ministers meeting soon may grow increasingly faint since both governments will face parliamentary elections in 2019 and will have entered lame duck territory by autumn 2018.
