Prime Minister Mark Carney has invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada for an official visit later this year, Carney’s office said Tuesday after the two leaders met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France.
The Prime Minister’s Office readout of the meeting did not include any mention of foreign interference or transnational repression, which India’s government has been accused of pursuing in Canada.
The readout did, however, say that Carney and Modi agreed to launch negotiations on a General Security of Information Agreement, which would strengthen the exchange of classified defence and security information. Carney signed a similar agreement with France earlier this week.
“They also looked forward to forthcoming dialogues in the areas of defence, finance and migration,” the readout said.
“Prime Minister Modi thanked Prime Minister Carney for his invitation to visit Canada in 2026. Both sides agreed to remain engaged through diplomatic channels to work towards a mutually convenient date for the visit.”
The developments are the latest steps in a thawing of relations between Canada and India that Carney has pursued since becoming prime minister last spring. India is one of several countries Ottawa has sought closer ties with in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Another is China, which Carney visited in January and signed a number of agreements with, including a security cooperation pact between the RCMP and Beijing’s Ministry of Public Security that has drawn scrutiny for remaining under wraps.Carney travelled to India in late February and early March, where he and Modi agreed to pursue a free trade agreement and struck a new energy partnership.Trade talks with India were shut down by Ottawa in 2023 after the federal government accused New Delhi of playing a role in the assassination of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
The RCMP believes members of the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang was hired by India to assassinate Nijjar in 2023 in an alleged act of transnational repression due to his activism in the Khalistan movement, which seeks independence for India’s Punjab.
Modi’s government was later implicated in a second attempted assassination of a Canadian Khalistan activist who resides in New York.
An internal RCMP report obtained by Global News said the Bishnoi group engages in murder-for-hire in Canada, and has been “acting on behalf of the Indian government.”
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