Amid ambiguity over his meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh said on Monday that they would meet in Amritsar on Wednesday.
“Look forward to meeting Canadian Prime Minister @JustinTrudeau in Amritsar on Wednesday. I’m hopeful that this meeting will help strengthen the close Indo-Canadian business ties as well as the deep-rooted people-to-people relations between our two countries,” the Chief Minister wrote on Twitter.
Deep roots
“While trade and business will be the focus area, the two leaders are expected to discuss steps to intensify the close relations between the people of the two countries,” said a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office.
“Punjab has deep roots in Canada, where a large Punjabi community is settled, and has always striven to strengthen the connect,’’ Capt. Singh said in the statement.
He pointed to the apology tendered by Mr. Trudeau in 2016 for the 1914 Komagata Maru incident, in which hundreds of Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus were denied entry to Canada and forced to return to India. This gesture underlined the depth of the bilateral relations, he said.
