Piyush Goyal to Lead Business Delegation to Canada to Boost Trade, CEPA Talks

Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal will lead a senior Indian business delegation to Canada to strengthen bilateral trade, investment flows, and strategic cooperation across key sectors, while giving renewed momentum to ongoing Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations.

The engagements are scheduled in Ottawa on May 25 and a two-day programme in Toronto from May 26-27, a Commerce Ministry statement said here on Saturday.

The visit carries forward the mandate given by PM Modi and his Canadian counterpart during PM Mark Carney’s visit to India in March 2026 and seeks to impart renewed momentum to bilateral engagement across trade, investment, energy, technology, and people-to-people ties.

A central focus of the discussions is the India-Canada CEPA. The Terms of Reference for the agreement were signed during the March 2026 leadership meetings, followed by two negotiation rounds, first held virtually in March and the second concluded on May 8, 2026.

During this visit, a further round of negotiations will be conducted in Ottawa from May 25 to 29, the statement said.

Both sides are working towards an early conclusion of a balanced and mutually beneficial CEPA by end of 2026, with a shared ambition to expand bilateral trade to CAD 70 billion (approximately INR 4.65 lakh crore) by 2030. Bilateral trade stands at USD 8.5 billion in FY25, with significant potential for expansion across sectors.

The delegation will engage with Canadian counterparts on multiple sectors, including technology, artificial intelligence (AI), clean energy, critical minerals, pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, aerospace and defense and food-processing and agritech.

In these areas, India and Canada possess highly complementary strengths and opportunities for joint investment, research and development (R&D), and supply chain partnerships are important.

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