/
Jaishankar meets Canada's Anita Anand at G20 in Atlanta: Modi's December visit 'another building block'
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar and Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand met at the G20 foreign ministers' meeting in Atlanta on 30 October and called Prime Minister Modi's December visit to Canada another building block. Modi is due in Toronto and Ottawa on 11 and 12 December.
R
3 min
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar met Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting in Atlanta on Friday, 30 October, and the two agreed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's December visit to Canada will be another building block in the two countries' ambitious relationship. They assessed the steady growth in bilateral cooperation and agreed to stay in close contact before the visit.
The visit
The Indian High Commission in Ottawa said on 16 October that Modi will visit Canada on 11 and 12 December. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney confirmed the date and said that the visit will take place in Toronto and Ottawa. He added that they would see whether they could broaden it out. The Atlanta meeting was a chance to prepare for it.
Earlier in October, Anand met Modi in India, and they discussed strengthening ties in trade, technology and energy. The reports of the Atlanta meeting say little about trade in the talks themselves, and they give no new commitments.
How ties were rebuilt
An earlier official readout from Canada described a joint road map for Canada–India relations that was announced in October 2025, and it said that Canada would keep pursuing its priorities of deepening trade, energy and people-to-people ties. A September 2025 readout said Canada remained committed to supporting and growing the established commercial ties, including agricultural products, critical minerals and energy.
One report says that ties were rebuilt after Modi and Carney met at the G7 summit in Kananaskis in June 2025, and that both countries then acknowledged progress through the appointment of high commissioners. The reports found do not describe the reasons for the earlier breakdown in ties.
Jaishankar posted on X that he was delighted to meet the Canadian foreign minister and that they had assessed the steady growth of cooperation. He held other meetings at the same event. With Argentina's Pablo Quirno he discussed trade, critical minerals, defence and nuclear cooperation and multilateral issues. His meeting with Mexico's Roberto Velasco Alvarez focused on giving new momentum to bilateral relations, and with Brazil's Mauro Vieira he covered bilateral and global issues. He said that he looked forward to his discussions with Germany's foreign minister, Johann Wadephul.
The visit comes as Canada is also working on closer ties with Europe. On 30 October, after a summit in Montréal, Carney said that Canada and the European Union aim to conclude negotiations on Canada's proposed associate membership by June 2027. That status has no basis in the EU treaties, and the final joint statement uses the words an ever closer association instead.
The same coverage notes the strain in Canada's trade relationship with the United States. Talks between Washington and Ottawa collapsed in August, Canada's retaliatory tariffs took effect last month, and the United States accounted for 72.5% of Canadian merchandise exports in 2025. Carney has said that a deal with Washington will come when it suits Canadians.
The Atlanta gathering is a two-day meeting of G20 foreign ministers hosted by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Jaishankar arrived on Friday, and a source-based report listed a series of planned one-on-one meetings with other ministers, including Canada's. After Atlanta he is due to travel to Antigua and Barbuda for Commonwealth talks.
The reports found do not give a list of agreements that are expected during the visit, and they do not say which companies or sectors will take part. They also do not say whether the two ministers discussed the trade talks that were under way earlier, or other issues in the relationship. The next public signal is likely to be an announcement of the programme for the December visit.
R
3 min
What did you think?
