Tag: Indo-Pacific

This Track 1.5 dialogue brought together Indian and Canadian officials, industry leaders, and experts to explore practical avenues for security and defense cooperation. Discussions focused on Indo-Pacific maritime security, defense-industrial collaboration, dual-use technology development, training exchanges, and opportunities for supply-chain integration aligned with the momentum of the October 2025 joint statement.

The roundtable highlighted how India–US ties are being reshaped by Trump 2.0’s transactional approach, tighter great-power competition, and shifting Indo-Pacific dynamics. While defense and technology cooperation are expanding, renewed pressures on trade, digital policy, and burden-sharing present challenges. India’s task will be balancing alignment with autonomy amid evolving US–China rivalry

Together with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, we hosted the Canada-India Conclave to reflect on the evolving bilateral partnership. With renewed momentum after the 2025 joint statement, the event highlighted opportunities in trade, technology, and innovation, featuring keynote addresses and a panel on strengthening economic resilience and future-focused collaboration.

India-Canada bilateral trade reached CAD 30.9 billion in 2024 but remains underutilized. Despite 2023 diplomatic tensions, economic ties proved resilient. A proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) could add CAD 8.8 billion in trade by 2035. Priority sectors include pharmaceuticals, critical minerals, agriculture, IT services, and clean energy, offering mutual strategic benefits.

The upcoming Second Workshop on Enhancing Australia–India Underwater Domain Awareness (UDA) Cooperation in Visakhapatnam will advance outcomes from the inaugural Perth dialogue. Focusing on ASW, UUVs, undersea search and rescue, and capacity building, it strengthens bilateral maritime cooperation under a DFAT-supported initiative by CSDR and the University of Western Australia’s Defence and Security Institute.

The discussion examined India’s foreign and security policy priorities, including China, the US, South Asia, and East Asia, alongside industrial strategies in semiconductors, EVs, and critical minerals. It also reviewed Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy, $75 billion regional commitment, responses to BRI, and prospects for coordinated ODA, trilateral, and technology partnerships.