For someone who just arrived in Canada two weeks ago, India’s new high commissioner seems surprisingly confident of achieving a goal the two nations have failed to reach since 2010 — sign a

comprehensive trade deal . At a Toronto event on Thursday, Dinesh Patnaik likened the trade relationship between India and Canada to both a disappointing Bollywood movie with no songs and later to a plane struggling to land amidst the fog.

“It’s the government’s duty to get rid of the fog,” he said at an event organized by the Canada-India Business Council. “If you can get rid of the fog, planes will land, and that’s what we need to do … signalling is very important.”

Patnaik arrives in Canada after a tense two-year period during which both countries expelled their respective diplomats and paused talks on a potential trade deal after Ottawa in September 2023 said it would pursue allegations of a potential link between India’s government and the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen, outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, B.C.

Prior to the diplomatic falling out, trade discussions had picked up and businesses were expecting the two countries to at least sign an early progress trade agreement (EPTA), a preliminary deal that could pave the way for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA).

Two years later, the situation seems to be easing, with both governments appointing new high commissioners and bilateral meetings increasing once again.

This time, Patnaik wants to bypass an EPTA and go “full hog,” given that both India and Canada have moved forward on many issues, he said.

“We had limited ourselves because we felt at that time that the CEPA had too many issues to reconcile,” he said. “But now that we’ve all moved ahead so much, reducing our ambition is not necessary.”

Businesses in Canada don’t necessarily need a deal with India to invest there, but a

trade agreement provides reassurances that there is a set of rules that both countries will follow.

Patnaik didn’t say when a new trade deal would be signed, but said both sides are “determined to move forward” and that they have created a timeline for themselves.

“Very good if we stick to the time … if there’s a delay, can’t help it,” he said. “But the whole idea is that the path forward is laid out and it’s uphill. So, we have to now climb.”

This isn’t the first time that an Indian envoy has expressed optimism.

Patnaik’s predecessor in November 2023 said a trade deal would only take a couple of months to conclude once the two nations resumed discussions. Prior to that, in May 2023, India’s commerce minister, Piyush Goyal, hinted at the possibility of a deal taking place by the end of that year.

But Patnaik’s optimism stems from the stable economic relationship between the two countries in the past two years despite the political impasse.

“Despite issues, we continued the way we were,” he said. “Imagine how far we can go when the relationship is good.”

The key, according to Patnaik, is to have “structured conversations” between both sides that are focused solely on business and avoid other issues.

Prime Minister Mark Carney hasn’t said much on the Nijjar affair, except to restate in June that there’s a legal process ongoing. He has instead been spending his time looking to build ties with alternative partners to reduce Canada’s reliance on the United States amidst the imposition of tariffs.

The U.S. has imposed tariffs on India as well, straining the relationship between the two nations.

Patnaik said the tariffs may make the “political will stronger” to boost trade with Canada, but that a deal between the two big economies is the “natural” way ahead, with or without the additional levies.

Prior to coming to Canada, Patnaik was India’s top envoy to Spain for three years, during which time the bilateral trade value between the two countries almost doubled. He hopes to replicate that momentum in Canada.

For now, though, the envoy’s schedule is filled with meetings across Canada, including, he said, 14 in Toronto last Wednesday alone.

“We have lost a lot of time, two years doing nothing much,” he said. “We need to actually do much more. Things are moving.”

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Despite the busy schedule, he has taken up pickleball since arriving in Ottawa.

“The games that I play are actually for work,” he said. “The more connections I have, the more ability I have to put together things that is important for the bilateral relationship.”