New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will embark on a visit to Cyprus, Canada and Croatia on Sunday, with the focus on his planned meeting with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 Summit that is expected to reset bilateral relations after diplomatic row over the killing of a Khalistani separatist.
Modi will begin the three-nation tour by travelling to Cyprus during June 15-16, only the third visit by an Indian premier and the first in 23 years. Modi will hold talks with President Nikos Christodoulides in the capital Nicosia and address business leaders in Limassol, the external affairs ministry said while announcing the visit on Saturday.
In the second leg of the visit, Modi will travel to the resort Kananaskis in Canada during June 16-17 to participate in the outreach session of the G7 Summit. This will be his sixth consecutive participation in the summit and he is expected to hold several bilateral meetings with other leaders attending the meet, including Carney.
The tour will conclude with a visit to Croatia on June 18, the first by an Indian premier. Modi was earlier scheduled to visit Croatia last month but the trip was called off because of hostilities with Pakistan. He will meet Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović and the visit will underscore India’s commitment to strengthening engagement with partners in the European Union (EU), the ministry said.
The decision to travel to Cyprus on the way to the G7 Summit was influenced by Turkey’s support for Pakistan during last month’s military clashes with India, people familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity. Turkey recognises Northern Cyprus, comprising territories seized by Turkish forces in 1974, while India has maintained close ties with the Republic of Cyprus, which too has backed New Delhi on issues such as terrorism and Kashmir.
In a break from past visits from the Indian side, the Prime Minister is expected to visit northern areas of Cyprus, close to Northern Cyprus, the people said. In recent years, India has strengthened ties with both Cyprus and Greece as part of its outreach to the Mediterranean, bolstering both trade and strategic ties.
A key area of focus for the three-nation tour will be Modi’s first meeting with Carney on the margins of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis that has been described by the external affairs ministry as an opportunity to reset India-Canada relations based on “mutual respect, shared interests and sensitivity to each other’s concerns”. This will be Modi’s first visit to Canada in a decade.
India-Canada ties cratered when former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau alleged in September 2023 that Indian agents were linked to the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India dismissed the charge as “absurd” and subsequently accused the Canadian government of giving space to separatists and radical elements that posed a threat to Indian diplomats.
The meeting between Modi and Carney will be an important step towards resetting the relationship, which hit an all-time low over the past year as both sides expelled diplomats and downgraded ties. Modi and Carney had their first phone call on June 6, when the Indian leader accepted an invitation to attend the G7 Summit. The two sides are also close to appointing new envoys to each other’s capitals.
India-Canada ties are underpinned by strong people-to-people connections, the strong presence of Indian students and growing trade and investment ties. Following Carney’s appointment on March 14, the two sides have been in touch at the level of leaders and senior officials. There have also been meetings between senior security officials, including the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on the Indian side and the National Security Intelligence Advisor, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Canadian Security Intelligence Services on the Canadian side.
Two way-trade in goods and services in 2024 stood at $22.9 billion, with Indian exports worth $6.7 billion. Canadian pension funds have cumulatively invested more than $75 billion in India. The two sides also held 10 rounds of talks on an Early Progress Trade Agreement before relations soured in 2023.
During the G7 Summit, Modi will exchange views with leaders of G7 states and other invited countries on global issues, including energy security, technology and innovation, particularly the AI-energy nexus and quantum-related issues.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar made the first official visit by an Indian foreign minister to Croatia in 2021. This was followed by Croatian foreign minister Grlic Radman’s trip to India in 2023, when the two sides signed an agreement on defence cooperation.
