India and Canada will co-operate on a spread of essential points, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned after talking to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the G7 summit.
However Trudeau wouldn’t specify what these points are, or whether or not he raised the allegations in regards to the Indian authorities’s involvement within the killing of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, which is on the centre of a rocky relationship between the 2 international locations for the final a number of months.
“I am not going to get into the small print of this essential, delicate situation that we have to observe up, however this was a dedication to work collectively, within the coming occasions, to cope with some essential points,” Trudeau instructed journalists at a information convention in Savelletri Di Fasano, Italy, on Saturday morning.
Invited as a visitor on the annual summit of the world’s wealthiest economies, Modi took centre stage on the G7 on Friday, his official YouTube channel publicizing bilateral conferences he held with a number of leaders, together with his British counterpart Rishi Sunak, French President Emmanuel Macron, and different high-profile company similar to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Pope Francis.
Later within the night, Modi posted an image exhibiting him shaking arms with Trudeau on his social media profile on X, merely with the caption “Met Canadian PM Justin Trudeau on the G7 Summit.”
On the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Italy, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the primary time since Canada publicly accused India’s authorities of involvement within the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
Trudeau’s workplace acknowledged the encounter afterward in a quick assertion to journalists, characterizing it as an interplay on the margins of the G7, throughout which Trudeau congratulated Modi on his latest re-election.
“We have to proceed to interact with numerous companions all over the world, with numerous companions, whilst we spotlight challenges as we arise for the rule of regulation,” Trudeau mentioned.
Unclear whether or not overseas interference allegations raised
The allegation round Nijjar’s killing, which Trudeau first made in September 2023 shortly after coming back from attending the G20 summit in India, just one situation that has strained relations between Ottawa and New Delhi.
India’s title has additionally come up as a overseas state actor that attempted interfering in Canadian elections, each on the public inquiry into overseas interference chaired by Justice Marie-Josée Hogue, and in a latest report filed by the the Nationwide Safety and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP), an oversight physique for Canadian safety intelligence businesses.
Trudeau didn’t specify whether or not he raised these considerations with Modi, both, nor whether or not they would stop him from extending an invite to the Indian chief on the G7 subsequent yr, which will likely be hosted by Canada.
It additionally stays unclear whether or not the NSICOP report’s unredacted model, hidden from the general public eye on account of nationwide safety considerations, named any Liberal MPs because the parliamentarians it accused of “wittingly or semi-wittingly” serving to out overseas governments.
“The problem of overseas interference is one which this authorities has taken extremely significantly since 2015,” Trudeau mentioned when requested by journalists about his personal caucus.
Each NDP Chief Jagmeet Singh and Inexperienced Celebration co-leader Elizabeth Could lately gained entry to the redacted report due to their safety clearance. They mentioned their caucus members weren’t named within the doc.
“I’ll permit Mr. Singh and Ms. Could to talk for themselves,” Trudeau mentioned.
