Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand will travel to India and the United Arab Emirates from October 13 to 16 for talks on trade, energy, security, defence and other areas of bilateral cooperation.

Global Affairs Canada announced the trip Monday. The itinerary describes planned meetings and priorities; it does not establish that any new agreement or policy outcome has yet been reached.

India meeting to focus on bilateral roadmap

In India, Anand is scheduled to meet External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Ottawa says the two ministers will discuss priorities in the Canada–India roadmap, including trade, energy, people-to-people ties and security and defence cooperation.

The department says this will be their 11th meeting since September 2025. Anand is also scheduled to join a Bloomberg New Economy Forum panel in New Delhi on middle powers and the changing global order.

Global Affairs Canada reports that two-way trade between Canada and India reached $30.4 billion in 2025, including $11 billion in goods. Those figures include services and other trade beyond the goods total.

UAE talks to include AI and commercial ties

In the UAE, Anand is scheduled to meet Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the country’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister. Ottawa says planned discussions with government and business leaders will cover commercial partnerships, defence and security, artificial intelligence, innovation and people-to-people ties.

The trip follows Prime Minister Mark Carney’s November 2025 visit to the UAE, which the Canadian government says produced a roadmap for closer cooperation in trade, investment and regional security. The UAE foreign ministry has also reported several contacts between Anand and Sheikh Abdullah during 2026, including discussions on bilateral ties and regional developments.

Diplomatic engagement ahead of the visit

Anand’s itinerary comes amid broader Canadian efforts to diversify economic and diplomatic relationships in the Indo-Pacific and Gulf regions. The announced meetings are significant because they bring together two major Canadian relationships in one trip, but their practical effect will depend on what the governments announce after the talks.

Sources: Global Affairs Canada, October 12; India’s Ministry of External Affairs bilateral brief; UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, July 26; UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs, September 30.

Lead image: Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand in Washington on August 21, 2025, photographed by Freddie Everett/U.S. Department of State, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain. File photo; not an image of the October 13–16 trip.