Cricket, Taj Mahal And Akshardham, Justin Trudeau Sked In India: 10 Facts

New Delhi:

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will reach India today evening to start his week-long India visit that is seen aimed as much at deepening ties with India, as the huge Indian diaspora back home. "Wheels up for India and a busy visit," PM Trudeau tweeted, with a picture of his wife and three children – the youngest is four – boarding the aircraft. The visit, the 46-year-old Prime Minister said, was focused on creating good jobs and strengthening the "deep connection between the people of our two countries". He will be in India till February 25.

Here is a 10-point guide to Justin Trudeau’s India tour:

1. "This is a great opportunity for the two countries to enhance investment and business ties and shared democratic traditions between the two countries and also enhance bilateral security ties," sources told NDTV, outlining the top priorities of the Canadian PM for meetings on this visit, his first to the country as Prime Minister.
2. In 2017, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and India amounted to $8.4 billion, split equally between exports to and imports from India. That same year, India was Canada’s eighth largest destination for merchandise exports.
3. There have been suggestions that Canadian investments could decline due to the absence of a mechanism to protect them. On February 23, Friday, he is slated to meet PM Modi where the possibility of an economic partnership pact could be firmed up.
4. But this will be the later. Before PM Trudeau gets down to talking business, he will, with his family, head to India’s iconic monument to eternal love on Sunday. The mausoleum crafted in ivory-white marble, Taj Mahal, was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in the memory of his wife Mumtaz Mahal.
5. The next day, PM Trudeau’s delegation will fly to PM Modi’s home state, Gujarat, and visit Sabarmati Ashram on Monday. He will also lead a discussion at the Indian Institute of Management on "Education and Investment Opportunities" with students.
6. A trip to Akshardham Temple in Gujarat is also on the agenda. Over the next few days, he will also travel to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and the Jama Masjid in Delhi.
7. These visits are the cultural component of PM Trudeau visit, seen as an outreach to the huge Indian diaspora in Canada. India is Canada’s second-largest source of immigrants. An estimated 1.4 million people of Indian-origin Canadians call Canada home.
8. In his cabinet too, PM Trudeau has five ministers of Indian descent including Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains, Defence MInister Harjit Singh Sajjan, Science and Sports Minister Kirsty Duncan and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi. They are accompanying him on the visit.
9. National Security Advisers of the two countries prepared the ground for PM Trudeau and PM Modi to intensify defence and security cooperation. India’s concerns over Sikh radicalism in Canada are understood to have figured in the meeting held a couple days back.
10. In between, he will visit Mumbai where he will hold meetings with top business leaders and meet representatives of Indian Film industry to explore various opportunities in the field of cinema.

Source: NDTV