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Toronto: Canada has continued to participate in this year’s G20 summit, hosted by India, despite a recent setback in bilateral relations over a controversial float depicting the assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Harjit Sajan, Canada’s Minister of International Development and head of Canada’s Pacific Economic Development Agency, attended the three-day G20 Development Ministers’ Meeting in Varanasi and visited New Delhi.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Sajjan thanked Foreign Minister S Jaishankar for welcoming the Canadian delegation to the city in Uttar Pradesh. “Canada and India share a commitment to supporting the world’s most vulnerable communities,” he added.
The development ministers “focused their discussions on how the G20 can help accelerate progress towards the United Nations’ 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including through efforts to improve access to finance,” said a press release from the country’s foreign ministry, Global Affairs Canada.
“In the spirit of India’s G20 presidency, one planet, one family, one future, we must all contribute to addressing global challenges affecting global sustainable development and working together towards the goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. From Addressing climate change, addressing global food security challenges, advancing gender equality and working to improve access to development finance, Canada reaffirms its commitment to accelerate progress across all the Sustainable Development Goals,” Sajjan said.
The release notes that Canada and India have “deep ties based on shared democratic values ​​and long-standing friendship” and that “extensive bilateral cooperation between Canada and India spans the fields of technology, finance, education and security.”
This is Sajan’s first official visit to India since he became Minister of International Development. His previous visits were in April 2017 and February 2018, when he was defense minister. After the 2021 general election, he was removed from the portfolio and replaced by Anita Anand.
The float was seen at the Martyrs’ Day event in Brampton on June 4 to mark the 39th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, the military operation ordered by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 to remove separatist leader Janine Irsingh Bindrawala and his supporters drive out Amritsar temples from Golden Town.
This aroused the anger of India. Other images feature Bhindranwale and other major figures in the Khalistan movement. Speaking to the media in New Delhi on Thursday, Jaishankar said the float was related to the larger issue of the space that “Canada continues” to provide to Khalistani elements.
Canada’s International Trade Minister Mary Ng is expected to visit India in August for the G20 trade ministers meeting. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is scheduled to attend the leaders’ summit of the multilateral event in September.
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