PM Modi unlikely to attend upcoming G7 summit in Canada

For the first time in six years, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is unlikely to attend the upcoming G7 summit to be held in Canada's Alberta province, people familiar with the matter said on Monday.

Canada is hosting the summit from 15 to 17 June, which is expected to deliberate on pressing challenges facing the globe, including the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the situation in West Asia.

It is learnt that Ottawa is yet to send an invitation to the Indian prime minister for the summit, but Modi would anyway have skipped it as such a visit would have required a lot of groundwork considering the current state of ties between the two sides, said the people cited above.

India-Canada relations hit rock bottom following then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations in 2023 of a potential Indian link of pro-Khalistan separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

However, Liberal Party leader Mark Carney's victory in the parliamentary election in April triggered hopes for reset of the relationship. The assessment in New Delhi has been that there was no clear indication yet from the new government in Canada to address India's concerns over activities of the pro-Khalistani elements in that country.

Moreover, there has been no significant forward movement by New Delhi and Canada to restore each other's high commissioners. In October last year, India recalled its high commissioner and five other diplomats after Ottawa attempted to link them to the Nijjar case.

India also expelled an equal number of Canadian diplomats.

"For a prime ministerial visit, we needed to carry out a lot of groundwork considering the state of bilateral relations," explained one of the people. Above all, security is a major issue, said another person aware of India-Canada ties.

In the last few months, the security officials of India and Canada resumed contacts and both sides were looking at the possibility of appointing new high commissioners.

The exit of Trudeau was seen as an opportunity to improve bilateral ties. India had accused Trudeau's government of allowing pro-Khalistani elements to operate from Canadian soil. After Trudeau's exit, New Delhi said it hoped to rebuild ties with Canada based on "mutual trust and sensitivity".

"The downturn in India-Canada relations was caused by the licence that was given to the extremist and secessionist elements in that country," external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal had said in March.

In June last year, Modi attended the outreach sessions at the G7 summit in Italy. It was the fifth time that he attended the annual G7 summit. In 2023, the prime minister travelled to Hiroshima for the summit while he attended the gathering in Alpine castle of Schloss Elmau in southern Germany in 2022.

The G7 comprises the US, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Japan. Canada is holding the current presidency of the G7 and is hosting the summit in that capacity.