AGRA: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau toured on Sunday the Taj Mahalwith his wife and children as he began a week-long visit to promote tradeand investment with India.
Trudeau, his wife Sophie Gregoire and their three children posed for afamily portrait before marvelling at the legendary marble monumentfrequently visited by foreign leaders during roadshows to India.
It was Trudeau’s first visit to India since taking office in 2015. He willmeet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and efforts to expand trade willdominate an agenda also covering energy, education and infrastructure.
“Wheels up for India and a busy visit, focused on creating good jobs andstrengthening the deep connection between the people of our two countries,”Trudeau tweeted before embarking on the trip.
Trade between Canada and India has doubled in the last decade to just over$8 billion in 2016, a figure which India’s foreign ministry says “does notreflect true potential”.
Canada is home to more than 1.2 million Indians — more than three percentof its population — and Trudeau is joined by Sikh members of his cabinetfor the visit.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in New Delhi, India. Photo:Reuters
The delegation will walk a diplomatic tightrope in Punjab where Trudeauwill visit the Golden Temple – the holiest site in Sikhism, and the sceneof a massacre of separatists in 1984.
For decades Sikh separatists have been agitating for an independent state,and last year Punjab’s chief minister accused Canadian defence ministerHarjit Sajjan — who joins Trudeau on this trip — of being sympathetic totheir cause.
The Canadian premier will meet Indian political leaders, civil societyfigures and corporate executives between ceremonial visits to religioussites and national memorials.
Trudeau is scheduled to visit Modi’s home state of Gujarat on Monday beforejetting off to India’s financial capital of Mumbai for talks with CEOs andbusiness leaders the next day.
After visiting Amritsar in Punjab on Wednesday, Trudeau will meet Modi andForeign Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi following a welcome at thepresidential palace and a wreath-laying at Mahatma Gandhi’s memorial.
Modi visited Canada in 2015 and addressed a crowd of 10,000 from the Indiandiaspora in Toronto. – Agencies