Close to 300 business representatives have joined what stands as the largest trade delegation sent to India in over three decades, with both nations working toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement while pursuing collaboration across a range of industries.

Aerospace, clean energy, technology, life sciences, agri-food, and forestry stood at the centre of the Team Canada Trade Mission's agenda, with Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu outlining how the initiative would connect Canadian businesses to openings within India's growing economy. The mission's stated purpose is forging fresh alliances and opening doors for workers and businesses in Canada.

Talks toward a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two nations remain active, with both sides working toward a completion target set for the close of 2026. A trade relationship between Canada and India — currently valued at roughly 30 billion US dollars — carries an official target of reaching 70 billion dollars before 2031.

Trade data released by the Canadian government put the combined value of cross-border commerce between the two nations at $30.4 billion for 2025, with goods alone accounting for $11 billion of that total. The delegation is working to identify where investment could take root across four sectors — manufacturing, technology, energy, and agriculture.

Talks under the CEPA framework reached their fifth round in Ottawa during the opening weeks of the month, with delegates pointing to energy, critical minerals, and aerospace as areas where joint work could take shape. Those talks build on prior face-to-face contact between Sidhu and Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal, who met on the margins of the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting.

Participation in the trade mission is designed to connect Canadian businesses with prospective partners, broaden their customer base, and identify where investment in India might take root. Under the proposed agreement, both nations stand to gain broader entry into each other's markets, with commercial operators and their workforces among those expected to benefit.

A four-day stop in India — running from 13 to 16 October — forms part of a broader two-nation itinerary for Foreign Minister Anita Anand, whose travel schedule also takes her to the United Arab Emirates. Talks on trade, energy, people-to-people ties, and security and defence are among the topics on the table when Anand meets with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi, a meeting aimed at moving the bilateral roadmap forward.

A government statement outlined plans for the talks to centre on deepening ties and advancing areas of common interest between the two sides. The meeting will mark the eleventh time the two ministers have sat down together since September 2025.

From the UAE leg of her tour, Anand is scheduled to hold talks with Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who serves as both Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, as well as with a range of officials and business figures. Agenda items for the UAE visit cover a broad range of shared priorities — from trade and defence arrangements to artificial intelligence, innovation, and people-to-people exchanges — all framed around deepening the bilateral relationship between the two countries.

Formal ties between India and Canada stretch back roughly eight decades, underpinned by well-established bonds among their respective populations.