On Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Prime Minister Mark Carney held a phone call that both governments described as constructive, with the two leaders expressing a shared intent to strengthen ties between their countries. Modi conveyed that the two nations are working together toward a world that is both more stable and more prosperous.

A joint statement described a mutual commitment to advancing the bilateral relationship between India and Canada, with tangible outcomes sought across trade, energy, technology, security, and people-to-people connections, all named as focal areas under the Strategic Partnership framework.

The phone call between the two leaders took place within days of David Morrison — who holds the role of Senior Diplomatic and International Affairs Advisor to Canada's Prime Minister — concluding a visit to India. Across three days in the country from 5 to 7 October, Morrison met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval in Delhi on the second day, with the two sides turning their attention to counterterrorism measures and related law-enforcement matters.

A joint statement noted that both parties had committed to strengthening joint efforts spanning transnational organised crime, violent extremism, the trafficking of people and narcotics, cybercrime, extortion, and the extradition of offenders. The 7 October Ministry of External Affairs statement noted that both sides had also pledged to pursue further avenues of practical cooperation, with structured dialogue frameworks on cyber security and economic security among the areas under consideration.

Talks convened in Delhi under the framework of a continuing national security adviser-level exchange on bilateral security matters. Meetings under this format had been convened twice before — once in the national capital during September 2025, and again in Ottawa in February 2026.

The joint communiqué noted that the two delegations had reviewed progress in security ties and law enforcement collaboration, among them the rollout of a shared Security Work Plan finalised in February 2026. The statement also recorded that both sides had characterised the bilateral exchanges of the previous year as steady and productive — exchanges carried forward, the statement indicated, on a foundation of mutual trust, sensitivity to each other's concerns, and a joint drive to deepen the relationship.

Both Doval and Morrison expressed support for advancing talks aimed at finalising a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Scope for building a substantive bilateral defence relationship was among the topics the two sides addressed.

Tensions between India and Canada surfaced in 2023 after then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau raised the possibility of an Indian connection to the death of Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar. New Delhi characterised the allegation as having no factual basis, and by October 2024 had withdrawn High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma along with five other diplomatic personnel after Ottawa moved to connect them to the Nijjar matter. India's government matched the Canadian expulsion figure, ordering out an identical count of diplomats.

Carney's April election win, which brought the Liberal Party back to power, contributed to a restoration of diplomatic ties. Diplomatic representatives from each country have since taken up posts in the other's capital. Ties between the two nations have grown warmer in the period following Prime Minister Carney's trip to India in March.