Vishakhapatnam

Canadian Minister of International Trade Maninder Sidhu on Thursday said negotiations are on between India and Canada for a trade pact and expressed the hope that these talks will conclude by the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Canada next month.

India and Canada are currently holding the sixth round negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).

"We're negotiating right now with India. I'm here for Round Six between our chief negotiators, and we're going to hopefully get there by the time Prime Minister Modi Ji visits Canada next month," he said here at a session of CII Partnership Summit.

Sidhu is here to attend the summit and also held discussions on the pact with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

Between India and Canada, he said it's not about competition, it's about complementarities between the two economies.

The talks are moving at a faster pace as both the countries are targeting to conclude the negotiations by the end of this year.

The Canadian minister said India is growing at a rapid rate and requires a lot more energy, 75 per cent more energy by 2035.

"... we're building up our capacity in the energy sector. We've got a handful of LNG projects across the country. And once those projects come online, we'll be the fifth largest exporter in the world of LNG within the next five years. And so that will help India with its growth plan," he said.

He added that Canada has the ability to help meet objectives of India's SHANTI Act.

The SHANTI Act which got the assent of President of India on December 21, 2025, allows private sector participation to set up a nuclear facility, or to carry out activities for the production, use and disposal of nuclear energy under a licence from the central government and safety authorisation of the Regulatory Board.

"We were here earlier this year around March 1st, and we signed a uranium deal roughly worth USD 2.5 billion to provide India that uranium that you need for your nuclear sector. But we want to do more," he said.

India and Canada, he said, also had great conversations on critical minerals.

"When you're looking at making sure your supply chains are stabilised and building up more resilient supply chains with more options, Canada has those options for you in terms of critical minerals," he said.

He added that electric vehicle manufacturing needs batteries and Canada is the only country in the Western Hemisphere that has every element required to build an electric battery.

"So you see the complementarities I'm talking about, whether it's in energy, whether it's in mining...it's also in agriculture. Canada has the best potash in the world that it can supply the farmers here in India to get more yield, more efficiency," the Minister said.

"So food security, energy security, but also supply chain resiliency is what we offer. So these are all natural fits, which makes my job and Minister Goyal's job a lot easier," Sidhu said.

He also said that Canadian pension funds are willing to do more here in India.

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"Our institutional investors... our pension funds, including those like Fairfax, have already invested over USD 100 billion in India. If you look at it collectively, Canada is the largest investor in India from any country in the world," he noted, adding Canada wants to do more.

"We want to help build data centers. We want to do more on AI and technology. And that's what Canadian companies and investors are telling me," he said.