As the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia caused serious diplomatic strains between Canada and India, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of that nation had a cordial meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the fringes of the G7 Summit in Italy.
The Canadian prime minister announced on Saturday, one day after their brief meeting, that India and Canada had agreed to cooperate on a number of “very important issues”.
PM Modi met one-on-one with the heads of state of Italy, France, Japan, and other nations. He did, however, merely exchange pleasantries with the prime minister of Canada. Later, PM Modi informed the public via a single tweet that he “met Canadian PM Justin Trudeau at the G7 Summit.”
The polite gathering takes place amidst tension stemming from Canada’s claim that agents in New Delhi were complicit in the killing of Nijjar, an individual designated as a terrorist by India.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) categorically denied the Canadian accusations, calling them “absurd and motivated.” Canada has been accused by India of encouraging anti-Indian sentiment. Trudeau refrained from disclosing the contents of his cordial meeting with Prime Minister Modi on Saturday.
According to a leading agency, Trudeau told reporters, “I’m not going to get into the details of this important, sensitive issue that we need to follow up on, but this was a commitment to work together, in the coming times, to deal with some very important issues.”
The Canadian Prime Minister’s Office said the leaders had a “brief discussion on the bilateral relationship”, during which Trudeau also congratulated Modi on his re-election.
“Of course, there are important issues between our two countries right now. You can appreciate that we won’t be making any further statements at this time,” spokesperson Ann-Clara Vaillancourt was quoted by the Canadian Press news agency as saying.
Regarding PM Modi’s conversation with Trudeau, India, however, refrained from issuing a separate comment.
According to New Delhi, the primary point of contention between Canada and India is that the latter has been providing room for groups that support Khalistan. Ottawa is expected by New Delhi to take decisive action against those groups.
PM Modi met one-on-one with German Chancellor Olaf Scholtz, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Japanese PM Fumio Kishida, and French President Emmanuel Macron during the summit. US President Joe Biden was also a guest of his.
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