Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Prime Minister of Canada Mark Carney at Hyderabad House, in New Delhi on Monday
| Photo Credit:
ANI
According to a joint statement issued after the Modi and Carney meeting, both leaders “recognise the value of expanding practical military cooperation and welcome opportunities to deepen defence relations through cooperative activities, joint training opportunities, and professional military exchanges.”
Both countries have engaged in multilateral military exercises in the past, such as Sea Dragon in 2023 that involved Quad nations, including the US, Japan and South Korea, besides Canada, but the bilateral exercises were rare. More than that, the relations between India and Canada had hit a low during former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s tenure over the Khalistan issue when both had expelled their top diplomats.
However, with Carney occupying the PM chair, the relations between both the sides have returned to normal.
Defence ties
The two leaders, as per the joint statement, also welcomed a new maritime security partnership in areas such as defence material cooperation, supply chain resilience, and training and exercises.
They agreed to institutionalise an India–Canada Defence Dialogue, which will exchange views on respective defence policies, regional and global security developments, and strategic outlooks in order to identify opportunities for greater defence collaboration.
“In this context, they welcomed Canada’s appointment of a Defence Attaché to India and India’s concurrent accreditation of its Defence Attaché in Washington D.C. to Canada as important steps toward strengthening institutional linkages,” read the statement.
Bilateral Security
On security ties, PM Modi said, “We agree that terrorism, extremism and radicalisation pose common and serious challenges not only to both countries but to all humanity. Our close cooperation against these is crucial for global peace and stability.”
Leaders also welcomed the progress made under the regular bilateral security dialogue convened at the level of the National Security Advisors and the agreement to a shared workplan to guide enhanced cooperation on national security and law enforcement priorities.
NSA Ajit Doval was in Ottawa for two days from February 7, this year, to hold meeting with his Canadian counterpart Nathalie Drouin, Deputy Clerk and National Security and Intelligence Advisor, and other senior officials in Carney government in which issues relating to transnational organised criminal network run by Khalistanis were also discussed and it was agreed to have institutionalised mechanism for resolving security related issues.
“As pluralistic democracies, they agreed to deepen collaboration to address issues relating to violent extremism, terrorism, organised crime, including the illegal flow of narcotics and fentanyl precursors, cybercrime, extortion, financial fraud, trafficking and related criminal networks,” the statement noted.
The leaders elaborated the joint statement, supported the establishment of security and law-enforcement liaison mechanisms to streamline bilateral communication and enable timely information-sharing and committed to strengthening cooperation on cybersecurity and immigration enforcement, consistent with domestic laws and international obligations.
They also called for the early convening of the next meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counterterrorism.
Published on March 2, 2026