India and Canada aim to conclude the long-awaited Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by the end of this year or earlier, said commerce minister Piyush Goyal on Monday. Goyal who is on a three-day trip to Canada along with more than 110 business delegation from India held an official bilateral meeting with Canada's Minister of International Trade, Maninder Sidhu, on Monday in Ottawa.
“ Our prime ministers have tasked us not only with completing the free trade agreement with a comprehensive outlook before the end of this year or earlier, but tripling our trade from a current $17 billion to a level to US$50 billion by 2030,” said Goyal during Joint Media Address, Ottawa, Canada.
While both the countries aimed for the FTA, but in 2023, Canada paused the FTA talks after diplomatic tensions rose between the two countries following allegations regarding the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar. However, relations began to normalise following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian leadership at the G7 Summit in Kananaskis.
“We made a promise to Canadians that we diversify our trading partners uh and we'd unlock roughly $300 billion of additional non- US exports and this is what we're focused on in this visit,” said Maninder Sidhu. Among various other discussions, India aims to explore possible import opportunities of critical mineras, gas and fuel from Canada. According to Goyal, Canada will be ‘a reliable partner for energy source’ for India. Goyal will also be meeting with Canada’s "Maple 8" pension funds to seek long-term capital deployments in India's infrastructure and technology sectors.
The bilateral trade between the two countries stood at $8 billion in FY26.