Visit to Taj Mahal, Golden Temple and more: 10-point guide to Justin Trudeau's trip to India

A step that could bolster India-Canada relationship, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will reach India today for a 7-day visit. He will be in India till February 23.

Before boarding his flight for his first official visit to India on Friday, the Canadian PM tweeted, "Wheels up for India and a busy visit, focused on creating good jobs and strengthening the deep connection between the people of our two countries." 

Here is a 10-point guide to Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's visit to India:

1. National security advisers of India and Canada met here this week, ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's seven-day visit to India today, which is aimed at further boosting strategic ties with a focus on defence and counter-terror cooperation. 

2. The two NSAs prepared the ground for Trudeau and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intensify defence and security cooperation, and India's concerns over rising Sikh radicalism in Canada are understood to have figured in the meeting held a couple days back, Canadian diplomatic sources indicated.

3. The objective of the Canadian prime minister's India visit would be to expand overall ties between the two countries with a focus on defence and security, counter-terror cooperation, trade and investment and tackling climate change, sources said. Both sides are also expected to deliberate on enhancing cooperation in civil nuclear sector.

4. In 2017, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and India amounted to $8.4 billion, split equally between exports to and imports from India ($4 billion each). Sources said Canadian investments in India were likely to decline in absence of a mechanism to protect them and Trudeau and Modi may deliberate, during their talks on February 23, on making forward movement in firming up the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries.

5. Trudeau, who will be accompanied by his wife and three children, is schedule to visit Taj Mahal on February 18, and next day he will travel to Ahmedabad where he will visit Sabarmati Ashram. He will visit Akshardham temple in Gandhi Nagar and participate at an event at IIM-Ahmedabad.

6. On February 20, 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.

7. On February 21, the Canadian PM will travel to Amritsar where he will visit the Golden Temple. He will return to Delhi the same day.

8. Trudeau is scheduled to visit Jama Masjid and a cricket ground here on February 22 besides delivering a lecture at a gathering of Canadian and Indian business leaders.

9. He will hold wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Modi on February 23. The next day, he is scheduled to address a conference of young change-makers before wrapping up his visit.

10. Approximately 1.4 million Canadians are of Indian heritage and India is Canada's second largest source of immigrants. Trudeau in his cabinet has five Indian-origin ministers who are all accompanying him to India during his 7-day visit. They include 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.

(With PTI inputs)