PM Modi has given India direction it did not have before: Canadian envoy
In Short
"Congratulations to your Prime Minister. That's a lot of public service in very senior positions as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and then the Prime Minister. I think that the Prime Minister Modi has given India direction it did not have before.
Share :
Prime Minister Narendra Modi
New Delhi: Canada's High Commissioner to India, Christopher Cooter, on Tuesday hailed India's impressive growth rate and credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership for moving the country faster than ever before. In an exclusive interview with IANS, the Canadian High Commissioner said that it is exciting for Ottawa to watch what is happening in India under PM Modi's leadership.
"Congratulations to your Prime Minister. That's a lot of public service in very senior positions as the Chief Minister of Gujarat and then the Prime Minister. I think that the Prime Minister Modi has given India direction it did not have before. My first posting here was 25 years ago. India was beginning to be on the move, but there was still the 'License Raj'. I think what I hear from the Prime Minister, from ministers here is a commitment to move your country even faster. You're growing at 7.8 per cent," Cooter told IANS when asked about Prime Minister Modi completing 25 years in public service.
"Yesterday, your Commerce minister and Chief Minister Naidu (Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu) talked about growing to 15 per cent and that would almost be a doubling at least for some states. I mean, this is very interesting for us and to have a partnership which is going in a very positive direction with a country whose Prime Minister is so committed both to expanding the bilateral relationship, but also to growing an India which has never been seen before in the world, we don't have anything like this in history. There's no democracy that's ever been this big and will be this big, much bigger in the future. This is a very exciting time for us to watch what's going on in India under the direction of your Prime Minister. So again, congratulations, not only to the Prime Minister, but also to what India has achieved over the last couple of decades," he added.
Cooter mentioned that PM Modi will be visiting Canada in December before the G20 meeting in the US and hold talks with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney.
"I think that visit will happen. I'm pretty confident that they will meet. It's going to be before probably the G20 meeting, which takes place this year in the US. So, as I said, there are so many things happening in the relationship. They'll have lots to talk about. And, I think they're going to have a number of things to sign or witness, such as the Free Trade Agreement. But we have a number of other agreements, major agreements, that are in the works. And, I can see that happening as well. They'll talk about the international system as well. We've got crisis, the West Asia war continues. There's climate issues, many things for them to discuss."
The Canadian envoy emphasised that when the meeting takes place, both leaders will have a lot of substantial things to put on the table to the benefit of both Indian and Canadian populations.
"We just find we have more and more to talk about in a world which is characterised, as our Prime Minister said, by a kind of rupture in the system that we used to rely on. That rupture is on the trade side, it's on the political side. We find that in that rupture, we are both democracies, we're both in the Commonwealth, we have similar systems, we have a huge link because of the diaspora in Canada, some two million people, and we just find there's more and more to talk about together," he stated.
PM Modi and Carney last met on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in France's Evian in June. During the meeting, the two Prime Ministers welcomed the positive momentum in India–Canada relations and noted with satisfaction the progress achieved since Carney's visit to India in March 2026. They had also reaffirmed their commitment to building a forward-looking strategic partnership.
Cooter also spoke about the recent meeting between National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and David Morrison, the Senior Diplomatic and International Affairs Advisor to Canadian PM, in New Delhi on October 6. He mentioned that both countries are looking at cooperation in counter-narcotics, extortion and cyber crime.
"Our cooperation goes beyond counterterrorism. We had our National Security Advisors speak and we are also looking at counter-narcotics, extortion, criminals. We're looking not just at the bilateral relationship, but crime is transnational. So cybercrime, for example. We talked about scam centers, those kinds of things that go well beyond our countries, but we're both facing the pressures that criminals are putting on us because of those things. So, we are moving rapidly to find ways to work together at the officials' level. And so that was another success of this week, the third meeting actually in a year between our national security advisors and the most senior officials in all of our agencies," he said.
With the ongoing conflict in West Asia taking a huge toll on the world's economy, Cooter mentioned that India and Canada can cooperate further on fuel and fertiliser.
"We know it puts a lot of pressure on you, both fertilizer and fuel, as well as the nine million Indian nationals who are in the Gulf. It's not easy to see how this is going to end soon... Canada can be an option for you. We do have a lot of fuel. We do have a lot of fertiliser. We are the largest producer of potash, for example. I mean we can stand with you to bridge this difficult time and to do things that will be beneficial to Indians and to the Indian economy. But we do hope that, you you play a central role in this region. And I hope that you working with the players in this region and the US can bring this conflict to a rapid end."
