EAM Jaishankar Meets Canadian FM Anita Anand: High Commissioner Appointments 'Welcome Step To Rebuild Ties'

<p>New York, Sep 29 (PTI) External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Anita Anand here, as he termed the appointment of envoys to Delhi and Ottawa as a &ldquo;welcome&rdquo; step to rebuild ties between the two countries.</p> <p>&ldquo;A good meeting with FM @AnitaAnandMP of Canada this morning in New York,&rdquo; Jaishankar said in a post on X Monday.</p> <p>&ldquo;The appointment of High Commissioners is welcome as we rebuild ties. Discussed further steps in that regard today. Look forward to welcoming FM Anand in India,&rdquo; he said.</p> <p>In August, India announced that Dinesh Patnaik has been appointed as India&rsquo;s next High Commissioner to Canada. Last week, Patnaik presented his credentials to Canada's Governor General Mary Simon and exchanged views on strengthening bilateral ties.</p> <p>Patnaik is a 1990-batch Indian Foreign Service officer.</p> <p>"High Commissioner @DineshKPatnaik presented Letter of Credence to H.E. The Right Honourable Mary Simon, the Governor General of Canada, followed by a Tete-a-tete. They exchanged views on strengthening India-Canada bilateral relations," said the Indian mission in Canada in an X post on Thursday.</p> <p>Last month, India and Canada appointed envoys to each other's capitals, signalling their efforts to repair ties that came under severe strain following the killing of a Sikh separatist in 2023.</p> <p>In June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the margins of the G7 summit at Kananaskis in Canada.</p> <p>In the meeting, both leaders agreed to pursue "constructive" steps to restore stability in India-Canada ties, including the early return of envoys to each other's capitals.</p> <p>Ties between India and Canada plummeted to an all-time low following a diplomatic spat over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.</p> <p>The India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link to the killing of Nijjar.</p> <p>In October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case.</p> <p>India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.</p> <p>However, Liberal Party leader Carney's victory in the parliamentary election in April helped begin the process of resetting relations.&nbsp;</p> <p><strong><em>(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)</em></strong></p>

source https://news.abplive.com/news/india/eam-s-jaishankar-meets-canadian-fm-anita-anand-india-canada-relations-1803134