Open this photo in gallery:
Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks at the Canada-India Growth and Investment Forum in Mumbai on Saturday.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he aims to wrap up a trade agreement with India by the end of the year.
A comprehensive deal with the country of 1.4 billion would be more proof that Mr. Carney’s efforts to repair a diplomatic rupture with New Delhi had borne fruit.
Speaking to a crowd of about 100 business investors and executives in India’s financial capital of Mumbai Saturday, the Prime Minister said his visit marks the end of a “challenging period” in Canada-Indian relations and the beginning of a new, more ambitious partnership” with the world’s fifth-biggest economy.
He said the breakdown of the rules-based international order has ushered in a “more volatile global era” where great powers are using economic coercion to bully smaller countries.
No exemptions for India on foreign interference concerns, Anand says
Mr. Carney said it’s understandable that nations are concluding they need more independence and self reliance, borrowing a term — “strategic autonomy” that India uses to define its foreign policy.
These days, he said, “many are concluding that they must develop greater strategic autonomy.”
India’s foreign policy of “strategic autonomy” means engaging with competing powers to serve the national interests instead of aligning with any single global power bloc.
“Building true strategic autonomy requires diversification, not isolation,” the Prime Minister said.
“It creates enormous opportunities for India and Canada to work together, to limit risks, to increase prosperity, and to build sovereignty.”
Canadian universities ink partnerships with Indian counterparts during Carney’s visit
In a nod to significant foreign policy differences between India and Canada, Mr. Carney said Ottawa can work with partners even if it disagrees with them sometimes.
India, for instance, has a friendly relationship with Russia – and robust energy and arms trade. Mr. Modi hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin last December and praised their “deep and unbreakable relationship.”
By comparison, Canada has spent more than $25-billion in recent years to help ally Ukraine fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion, which began in 2022.
The Prime Minister said his approach is values-based realism that is both pragmatic and principled, “recognizing that progress is often incremental, that interests of nations can diverge, and that not every partner will share all our values.”
“We are actively taking on the world as it is, not passively waiting for a world we wish to be,” said Mr. Carney.
He pitched the Mumbai audience on Canada’s energy riches as well as tax rates and red tape reductions by his government.
“We have put in place a super-deduction – a broad-based 100-per-cent tax write-off for everything from manufacturing assets to intelligence infrastructure, research and development, clean energy, and electric vehicles,” Mr. Carney said.
Opinion: Why India needs Canada, and how we can leverage that
The Prime Minister said Canada’s capacity to export liquefied natural gas to Asia is expected to increase by 50 million tonnes in the coming years.
He said he’s cut Canada’s marginal effective tax rate for new investment to 13 per cent.
“That’s 4.5 per cent lower than the United States and about half the G7 average.”
He said Canada and India are natural partners given that two million Canadians trace their roots to India, “including leaders in business, science, and government.”
Canada’s export to India comprise less than 1 per cent of overall exports. Two-way investments exceed $30-billion per year, Mr. Carney said.
“The reality is that this activity is nowhere near our potential,” he said.
“We can be India’s strategic partner in critical minerals for India’s manufacturing, clean tech, and nuclear industries. And India can help us double our grid with clean power by 2040,” he said.
India’s leadership in AI and the digital economy aligns well with Canada’s ambition to develop and commercialize AI and quantum, and deepen defence innovation, he said.
