India and Canada stepped up efforts to revive and deepen bilateral economic ties, with Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal leading the Indian business delegation to Canada and holding a series of high-level meetings in Ottawa focused on fast-tracking the proposed India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The three-day visit, covering Ottawa on May 25 and Toronto from May 26–27, comes amid renewed momentum in bilateral engagement, with both countries targeting a sharp expansion in trade and investment ties.
Apart from the other important engagements, Goyal held a productive meeting with Canada’s Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food Heath MacDonald. The discussions centred on strengthening bilateral cooperation in agriculture, with a focus on food security, sustainability, and agri-technology.
Both sides explored meaningful opportunities for collaboration in the food processing sector. It was highlighted that such cooperation would play an important role in boosting the incomes of Indian farmers and producers, while contributing to greater agricultural integration between the two countries, Ministry of Commerce said in a statement.
Minister Goyal also held wide-ranging talks with Canada’s Foreign Minister Anita Anand and emphasised the importance of trade, investment, and technology linkages for the India-Canada Strategic Partnership.
He highlighted India’s expanding infrastructure, renewable energy, logistics, digital infrastructure, and consumer sectors as offering significant opportunities for greater collaboration and long-term Canadian investments. Both sides reaffirmed their commitment to strengthening the bilateral partnership across economic and strategic dimensions.
The delegation of over 100 industry leaders, drawn from sectors including energy, mining, automotive goods, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, artificial intelligence, leather, and textiles, reflects the breadth of opportunity both sides are seeking to unlock.
With bilateral trade currently standing at approximately USD 8.5 billion, both governments have set an ambitious shared target of expanding this to $50 billion by 2030.