Canada signals India reset at UN, backs trade push and multilateral reform

Canada used the UN platform to underline renewed engagement with India on trade and diplomacy. The outreach signals Ottawa's wider push for strategic autonomy, UN reform and stronger bilateral ties.

In Short

• Anita Anand said Canada wants a trillion dollars in investment
• Ottawa is exploring deeper economic openings across Indo-Pacific, Gulf and Latin America
• New coalitions were presented as flexible tools for tackling emerging global challenges

Canada has underlined its push to rebuild ties with major economies such as India and China, while also highlighting new work with New Delhi and other countries to strengthen multilateralism and support reforms at the United Nations. Speaking at the high-level General Debate of the UN General Assembly on Saturday, Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said Ottawa was focusing on diversifying trade and drawing major investment over the next five years.

Anand also stressed Canada’s effort to work through new coalitions and partnerships as it responds to shifts in the global order. On the sidelines of the UNGA, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Anand held what Jaishankar described as a “productive discussion” as the two sides prepare to take the relationship to “a higher level”.

In her address, Anand said that in the economic sphere Canada was focused on what it could control by diversifying trade and catalysing a trillion dollars of investment in the country over the next five years. She said Ottawa was exploring opportunities with partners in the Indo-Pacific, the Gulf region and Latin America. “This includes building renewed partnerships with large economies like India and China,” Anand said.

She also referred to efforts with India and other countries to strengthen multilateralism and push for UN reform. Earlier this week, India co-sponsored an inaugural multilateralism summit at the UN headquarters, with Jaishankar co-chairing the first-ever ‘Partners for Multilateralism, International Law, Peace & Prosperity (P4M)’ Summit along with leaders of Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Canada and Kenya. “At a time when we are forming new coalitions, we should also strengthen the multilateral system. This is why Canada and our partners throughout the entire world have started a new initiative entitled ‘Partners for Multilateralism’,” Anand said. “This initiative seeks to support United Nations reform and reform of other institutions to make them more representative, more effective, and more trustworthy,” she added.

Addressing world leaders, Anand said “great powers want the rest of us to accept what we are offered, and too often, state sovereignty, the cornerstone of the UN Charter, has been treated with disdain.” She said the world faced serious challenges in the global order, but that Canadians and billions of others wanted peaceful, prosperous and predictable lives. “That is why, in the face of this rupture, Canada’s goal is to achieve greater strategic autonomy, greater autonomy to make our own choices and to determine our own sovereign future. We can no longer afford to be overly reliant on any one partner. Instead, we are diversifying our ties and building stronger relationships with new and old partners alike, so that our people can enjoy peace and prosperity,” she said.

Anand said Ottawa would prioritise decisive and effective action by building issue-based coalitions among countries that shared urgency on common challenges. “We believe that these coalitions are the most flexible, effective, and immediate way to address emerging global challenges,” she said. Earlier on Saturday, Jaishankar said on X after meeting Anand: “Always a pleasure to meet FM @AnitaAnandMP of Canada #UNGA81. A productive discussion as we prepare to take the relationship to a higher level.”

India-Canada ties had deteriorated sharply during the tenure of former prime minister Justin Trudeau, but have shown signs of gradual normalisation since Prime Minister Mark Carney took charge in March 2025. Earlier this week, Carney said at the UN that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was expected to visit Canada around December this year, and that Ottawa was making “good progress” in trade talks with India. “We are making good progress in our trade negotiations with India. It is an exceptionally important relationship on many many levels, people-to-people levels, security levels, and also trade and economic,” Carney said at a press conference on Tuesday on the sidelines of the UNGA session. Responding to a question on Modi’s visit and a possible free trade deal, Carney said India and Canada had committed at last year’s G20 to “look to conclude negotiations by the G20 this year”. With the G20 Summit scheduled for December 14-15 in Doral, Florida, he said, “I believe that India just confirmed that the Prime Minister (Modi) will be visiting Canada around that time. The precise date isn’t out, but I very much look forward to hosting him.”

Canada’s message at the UN combined its economic outreach to countries including India with its call for a stronger multilateral system, while meetings on the sidelines of the General Assembly pointed to continued efforts by Ottawa and New Delhi to take bilateral ties forward.

With PTI Inputs

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