‘Opportunity for us to engage’: Canada’s Trudeau after meeting with PM Modi during G7…

NEW DELHI: Days after holding a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the recently-concluded G7 Summit in Italy, Canada‘s Justin Trudeau said that the work is ongoing in the Canada-India relationship and he sees an “opportunity” to engage with Modi government now that the Lok Sabha elections are over.
“Now that he’s [PM Modi] through his election, I think there is an opportunity for us to engage, including on some very serious issues around national security and keeping Canadians safe and the rule of law,” Trudeau told CBC News in an interview.
The meeting of the two leaders on the sidelines of G7 Summit was the first time since Trudeau publicly accused Indian government of being involved in the killing of Khalistani separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Referring to the bilateral meeting in Italy on June 15, Trudeau said, “I think one of the really good things about summits is you get an opportunity to engage directly with a huge range of different leaders with whom there are various issues,” Trudeau said. “And certainly with India, there are massive people-to-people ties, there are really important economic ties, there’s alignment on a number of big issues that we need to work on as democracies, as a global community.”
Earlier after the meeting Trudeau had talked about a shared commitment between India and Canada in the future to tackle crucial concerns.
“I’m not going to get into the details of this important, sensitive issue that we need to follow up, but this was a commitment to work together, in the coming times, to deal with some very important issues,” said Trudeau during a press conference in Savelletri Di Fasano, Italy at the conclusion of three-day G7 Summit.
The meeting was the first since Trudeau alleged that Canadian authorities are “actively pursuing credible allegations” related to Indian government involvement in the murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a designated terrorist.
India has continued to maintain publicly that there’s no official or diplomatic communication from Canada on the Sikh separatist killing or the four arrests in the case.
After the Lok Sabha election results, Trudeau had also congratulated PM Modi on his re-election. “Congratulations to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his electoral victory. Canada stands ready to work with his government to advance the relationship between our nations’ peoples—anchored to human rights, diversity, and the rule of law,” Trudeau had said on social media. In response, PM Modi had said, “India looks forward to working with Canada based on mutual understanding and respect for each other’s concerns.”