India and Canada are advancing their bilateral free trade agreement negotiations focussed on a year-end completion target amid Ottawa’s “two-track” approach that will allow it to speed up economic dialogue while parallelly pursuing public safety and cooperation on law enforcement, sources said.In a joint statement issued on Friday following their bilateral meeting, Commerce & Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Canadian counterpart Maninder Sidhu reaffirmed the year-end timeline for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and launched the Canada-India Trade and Investment Forum to bring together business leaders.“They (the two Ministers) underscored CEPA’s importance in expanding market access, supporting resilient supply chains, and enabling two‑way economic growth,” the statement noted.Minister Sidhu confirmed that Canada will lead a `team Canada trade mission’ to India later this year, reflecting the strong interest of Canadian businesses in expanding their presence in the Indian market and the shared ambition to deepen commercial partnerships, the statement added.The two countries aim to reach $50 billion in bilateral trade within five years while boosting Canadian investments.Free trade talks between India and Canada went into deep freeze in late 2023 after diplomatic ties hit a historic low over allegations of a “potential link” between agents of the Indian government and the June 2023 assassination of Canadian Khalistani activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia. However, political friction eased since Canadian PM Mark Carney took office in mid-2025 and terms of reference for the CEPA were signed during his India visit in March this year.Canadian Trade Minister Sidhu clarified this week that his government will keep pursuing its law enforcement objectives and fight transnational repression with cooperation from India while pushing for enhancement in bilateral trade. “The two (public safety and economic cooperation) have to go hand in hand. And we will not back away from that,” Sidhu said in an interview with Canadian television.The Minister underlined that the economic dialogue with India was very important and he was leading it through the trade negotiations. Goyal has just concluded his visit to Canada leading the largest business delegation of over 150 representatives and the two sides also held a technical round of negotiations for the CEPA. Sidhu said that like-minded partners such as the UK, the EU and New Zealand had already signed similar pacts with India and he wanted to make sure that Canadian businesses stay competitive. “Those countries have an early movers’ advantage I want to make sure Canadian businesses are not left out,” he said in his TV interview.Published on May 29, 2026