Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, will visit India from Feb 17 to 23
Nimrat Kaur
January 22nd 2018 06:16 PM
In an official announcement, it was said that the Justin Trudeau will travel to India – at the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi – for a state visit from February 17 to 23.
- This state visit will build on a number of recent meetings held between Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Modi and ministers from both countries.
- This will be the fourth meeting between Prime Minister Trudeau and Prime Minister Modi. The two leaders met previously in November 2017 during the East Asia Summit in Manila, Philippines; in July 2017 during the G20 in Hamburg, Germany; and in April 2016 during the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C. Prime Minister Trudeau also met him in his capacity as Leader of the Liberal Party in Toronto in April 2015 during Prime Minister Modi’s official visit to Canada.
- Since September 2016, there have been eleven ministerial visits to India, including, most recently, a trade mission led by Minister of International Trade François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Bains, and Minister of Transport Marc Garneau, in November 2017.
- Canada is home to a large Indian diaspora. Over one million – approximately 3.6 per cent – of Canadians are of Indian heritage. India is Canada’s second largest source of immigrants (approximately 40,000 in 2016).
- In 2016, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and India totalled $8 billion. Bilateral trade in services reached $2.1 billion in the same year, an increase of 1.9 per cent over 2015.
- Canada is a leading education destination for Indian students, and India is the second largest source of international students for Canada’s universities, colleges, and schools. Approximately 124,000 Indian students had a valid Canadian study permit in 2017, an increase of over 60 per cent compared to last year.
- India is also a major source of international tourists for Canada, with 215,000 Indians visiting in 2016.