By Jack Detsch
On the last leg of his three-country tour, India’s Prime Minister has a lofty agenda. Did his visit succeed?
Although Narendra Modi’s rock star appeal has faded back in India, and didn’t seem to count for much in France, the first leg of his three-country foreign trip, scores of well wishers greeted him in Canada on Wednesday. Hours before Modi’s arrival in Toronto, where he was greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, huge crowds had already formed outside of Ricoh Coliseum, an 8,000-seat hockey arena where the two leaders would later speak to a sold-out audience. Earlier in the day, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Harper had welcomed Modi with full military honors and a 19-gun salute.
Canada is by far the smallest country on Modi’s itinerary, but the theatrics were not misplaced: it may very well be the most strategically important stop of the trip. Canada has the world’s third-largest proven oil reserves, with many of those deposits located in tar sands in Harper’s home province of Alberta. Canada could be an ideal place for India, the fourth largest consumer and net importer of crude oil on the planet, to sate its energy appetite.
In trade terms, there’s still plenty of room for Delhi and Ottawa to grow closer. In 2014, Canada shipped less than one percent of its total goods to India, valued at $3.1 billion. Part of that is due to a lapsed interest in the relationship. Modi’s trip marks the first to Canada by India’s head of government in 42 years.
Read the full story at The Diplomat