Champagne touts deepening economic ties in visit with Indian counterpart

TORONTO — Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne says he’s looking at ways to streamline payments between Canada and India as part of a broader effort to deepen ties with the world’s fast-growing major economy.

Champagne is hosting Nirmala Sitharaman, India’s minister of finance and corporate affairs, in Toronto today where the two announced a new economic and financial dialogue between the nations.

Champagne told reporters the economies of the two countries are “uniquely complementary” and positioned Canada as a reliable supplier of food and energy for India.

Sitharaman said bilateral relations between countries are increasingly important in a period of geopolitical instability and she credited prime ministers Mark Carney and Narendra Modi with bringing “fresh momentum” to the partnership.