Chill in ties, window closing for Canada invitation to G7 summit
With less than two weeks to go for the start of the G7 Summit, being hosted by Canada in Kananaskis in Alberta from June 15-17, India is still to receive an invitation to the gathering.
If the invitation window closes, Delhi's absence at the summit will be the first break since 2019. Barring 2020 when the G7 huddle was cancelled by the US, the host country, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has attended every summit since 2019.
The chill in Delhi-Ottawa ties has not gone unnoticed. The two countries downgraded diplomatic ties after Justin Trudeau, the then Canadian Prime Minister, set off a political storm in 2023 when he alleged 'potential' involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of a Canada-based Khalistan separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the charges as 'absurd' and 'motivated'.
Usually, G7 host countries invite some countries as guest countries or outreach partners. Canada has so far invited Ukraine and Australia. It has not released names of other guest countries.
France was the host of the G7 leaders' summit in Biarritz in August 2019 — after Modi became Prime Minister in 2014, this was the first invitation.
Before that, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had attended the G8 summit five times between 2004 and 2014 — the grouping became the G7 in 2014 after Russia's suspension, and subsequent exit, over its annexation of Crimea.
In 2020, US President Donald Trump called the G7 a 'very outdated group' and said he would like to include India, Australia, South Korea and Russia in the grouping of the largest advanced economies. Trump had suggested that the Group of 7 be called 'G10 or G11', and proposed that the grouping meet in September or November 2020. But due to the pandemic and the US elections, that did not happen.
Modi attended the G7 summit in 2021 via virtual mode, and then attended the summits in Germany in 2022, Japan in 2023 and Italy in 2024.
This May 25, Canada's new Foreign Minister Anita Anand had a phone conversation with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. It was the first official political-level contact between Delhi and Ottawa after Mark Carney won the Canadian elections and became Prime Minister, raising hopes for a reset in ties.
Anand said Canada looked forward to rebuilding ties with India as part of an effort to diversify trade away from the US — even as the RCMP investigation into the killing of Canadian Hardeep Singh Nijjar continued.
In an interview, referring to Nijjar's killing, she said: 'We are certainly taking it one step at a time. As I mentioned, the rule of law will never be compromised, and there is an ongoing investigation regarding the case that you mentioned.'
'At the same time, we are looking forward to continuing to build this partnership, and we're looking forward to that as a government – it's not just me…It's part of the process of diversifying our relationships and building relationships around the world,' she said.
Going by the timelines for the G7 summit — the fact that very little time is left for an invitation and security and liaison teams usually travel to the venue ahead of the Prime Minister's visit — there is a slim chance of Modi attending the G7 summit even if the invitation comes now.
But if an invitation is extended, there is a possibility that a minister or a government representative may attend. A call on that will only be taken after the invitation is received.
Shubhajit Roy, Diplomatic Editor at The Indian Express, has been a journalist for more than 25 years now. Roy joined The Indian Express in October 2003 and has been reporting on foreign affairs for more than 17 years now. Based in Delhi, he has also led the National government and political bureau at The Indian Express in Delhi — a team of reporters who cover the national government and politics for the newspaper. He has got the Ramnath Goenka Journalism award for Excellence in Journalism '2016. He got this award for his coverage of the Holey Bakery attack in Dhaka and its aftermath. He also got the IIMCAA Award for the Journalist of the Year, 2022, (Jury's special mention) for his coverage of the fall of Kabul in August 2021 — he was one of the few Indian journalists in Kabul and the only mainstream newspaper to have covered the Taliban's capture of power in mid-August, 2021. ... Read More
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