“The leaders were adamant that this work proceed as quickly as possible so that timing is going to be expeditious,” Anand said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
Carney will visit India early next year.
“This is a completely new approach to foreign policy that is responsive to the global economic environment in which we find ourselves,” Anand said. “There is a new government, a new foreign policy, a new prime minister and a new world order where countries are becoming more protectionist and this is a moment for Canada as a trading nation.”
Nijjar, 45, was fatally shot in his pickup truck after he left the Sikh temple he led in Surrey, British Columbia. An Indian-born citizen of Canada, he owned a plumbing business and was a leader in what remains of a once-strong movement to create an independent Sikh homeland.
Four Indian nationals living in Canada were charged with Niijar’s murder and are awaiting trial in Canada.
“This is a step by step process. And in the last six months, significant steps have been taken,” Anand said.
Anand said both countries expect to be able to double bilateral trade by 2030, to US$50 billion, and noted that Canada is India’s seventh largest trade partner for goods and services, and one of the largest foreign investors in India.
Anand said Canada remains ready to resume trade talks with Trump.
“We are operating under the fact that the United States has fundamentally changed all of its trading relationships,” Anand said. “We look forward to getting back to the table.”
