The trade ministers of Canada and India met on the margins of the WTO ministerial on Friday and reviewed progress towards negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement or CEPA between the two countries.
A readout issued by Global Affairs Canada, the country’s foreign ministry, said that its Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, met India’s Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on the margins of the 14th WTO Trade Ministers’ meet currently in progress in Yaounde, the capital of Cameroon.
The readout said, “Together, Minister Sidhu and Minister Goyal reviewed the progress toward a Canada–India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), welcoming the conclusion of a first round of negotiations.”
As the Hindustan Times reported earlier this month, negotiations towards CEPA began almost as soon as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney concluded his first bilateral visit to India on March 2, when he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi. They announced the launch of negotiations after the terms of reference were finalised. Both countries have appointed lead negotiators for the verticals under discussion for the pact. The PMs have set a target to complete negotiations by the end of this year to clinch the pact as early as possible.
In a post on X, Goyal said they “reviewed progress on the recently launched India-Canada CEPA negotiations, and explored ways to further strengthen our bilateral trade & economic cooperation.”
The Canadian readout said they were building on the “momentum generated” by recent high-level engagements between Canada and India, including Carney’s visit, and they “discussed opportunities to deepen bilateral trade and investment ties and maintain regular dialogue on shared economic priorities.”
In a separate post on X, Sidhu said they met “to advance” CEPA and explore “exploring opportunities in fertiliser, energy, investments and more. India is one of the fastest-growing major economies in the world.”
Sidhu also welcomed Goyal’s planned visit to Canada later this spring, including a trade and investment mission and a Canada–India Trade and Investment Forum aimed at identifying new opportunities for collaboration across various economic sectors.
