India-Canada Commerce Ministers discuss negotiations towards CEPA

The Commerce Ministers of India and Canada held a virtual meeting on Thursday to discuss the contours of forthcoming negotiations towards a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

The meeting was held between India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and Canada’s Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu during which Piyush Goyal also agreed to lead a high-level trade and investment delegation to Canada in the new year.

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Taking it to social media post on X, “We undertook initial scoping and broad discussions on the overall approach, contours, macro objectives and modalities as part of preparations for the launch of CEPA negotiations.”

Calling the discussion as “productive”, Minister Goyal said, “We also agreed to lead a high-level trade and investment delegation to Canada in the new year.”

In a separate post, Maninder Sidhu said he met with Piyush Goyal to “further strengthen the commercial ties between Canada and India” and that they discussed preparations to launching negotiations on a new Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

He also looked forward to welcoming Piyush Goyal and his trade and investment delegation next year.

CEPA is a free trade agreement where both the countries either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on the maximum number of goods traded between them.

Under the arrangement, both the countries also ease norms for the movement of skilled professionals and attract investments.

Notably, in 2023, Canada paused negotiations for the agreement with India. It came after the bilateral relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations of a potential Indian link to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

In 2023-24, India’s exports to Canada rose 9.8% to USD 4.22 billion from USD 3.84 billion while the imports declined 2.33% to USD 4.44 billion in the last fiscal from USD 4.55 billion in 2023-24.