India, Canada reiterate commitment to complete trade deal by end of 2026

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Canadian Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne on Friday (August 28, 2026) issued a joint statement that reiterated the two countries’ commitment to conclude the India-Canada trade deal by the end of 2026. 

The joint statement also said that India had expressed its readiness to begin negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty “at the earliest”. The statement followed the conclusion of the inaugural India-Canada Finance Ministers’ Economic and Financial Dialogue in Toronto.  

Trade and investment deals

“The Dialogue builds on the commitment made by Prime Minister Mark Carney and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during their meeting in New Delhi in March 2026 to strengthen bilateral economic and financial cooperation, including the shared commitment to conclude Canada-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) talks by the end of 2026,” the statement said. 

It added that, during the Dialogue, the Ministers discussed the mutual benefits of further strengthening bilateral economic and investment ties, to support financial and commercial linkages between India and Canada and support the two Prime Ministers’ shared aspiration to expand bilateral trade to ₹4.65 lakh crore by 2030 from the ₹70,354 crore in 2025-26. 

The statement also said that “India expressed its readiness to initiate negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty at the earliest”.

Sectoral engagements

The two Ministers also discussed ways to facilitate greater engagement between Indian and Canadian financial institutions and institutional investors and to explore commercially viable investment opportunities across sectors of mutual interest.

“The Ministers explored opportunities for deeper collaboration on a range of financial-sector issues, including payments modernisation, financial stability, FinTech innovation, capital markets development and efforts to address financial crime,” the statement said.

Importance of bilateral deals

During a press conference following the Dialogue, Ms. Sitharaman also spoke about how the current global economic scenario had shown that bilateral engagements are becoming increasingly significant.

“Because of the [global] uncertainties, emphasis is now on bilateral relationships,” Ms. Sitharaman said. “Whilst plurilateral relationships are fine, bilateral relationships clearly match one another’s potential and challenges to the advantage of each.” 

“And in that, Canada and India have identified their strengths, clearly marked where the potential lies and therefore a bilateral trade relationship,” she added. “And the agreement which can soon be concluded, the CEPA dialogues are going on, will bring maximum opportunity for both people of Canada and India.”

Pitch for Canadian pension funds

While the joint statement acknowledged that Canadian pension funds are already significant investors in India, Ms. Sitharaman pitched for even greater investments from them.

“The Canadian pension fund has been very much engaged with India,” she noted during the press conference. “We would like more of them to be here with us because, since 2020, just before COVID-19 started, we put out a complete list of the national pipeline for asset monetisation in India. And that has become a very growing pipeline of investment opportunities for those who are seeking higher returns on their investments.”

She also spoke about India’s investment in infrastructure and sunrise sectors such as green ammonia, hydrogen, advanced battery storage, space, and modular nuclear reactors. 

“So, there are immense possibilities for funds to come and invest in India,” Ms. Sitharaman said, adding that officials of GIFT City and the National Infrastructure Investment Fund (NIIF) had accompanied her to Canada to engage with the Canadian funds.