Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit Canada in second half of the year

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Canada in the second-half of the year -- a country which stood by him when the rest of the Western world had shunned the then Gujarat Chief Minister following the 2002 riots – with an aim to conclude to conclude Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement ( CEPA) to triple the bilateral trade.

Modi has accepted Canadian PM Stephen Harper’s invitation to visit Ottawa this year and this visit is expected to materialize in the second half of this year, Deepak Obhrai, an eminent Canadian MP of Indian origin and Parliamentary Secretary to the Foreign Minister told ET. Obhrai had met Modi last October along with the Foreign Minister to discuss possibility of the Indian PM visit.

Canada had earlier explored the possibility of a visit by Modi last September when he was in the US. But the strong Indianorigin community demanded a stand-alone visit by the PM that does not have a stop at the US. A key outcome from Modi’s visit could be signing of CEPA to triple the current level of bilateral trade, Obhrai hinted. “There is already a sense of optimism in the air following Modi’s victory.”