Chicago – February 28, 2026
India wants to buy any energy product it can from Canada, and its officials are urging the federal government to streamline approvals for various projects so it can tap into new supplies to feed a rapidly growing country with relatively few natural resources of its own.
That’s the message India’s high commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, relayed in an interview with CBC News before Prime Minister Mark Carney left for a five-day visit to the country.
It’s a trip that will be laser-focused on cutting new business deals and getting negotiations for a free trade agreement underway as part of a push to diversify from the American market.
“On energy, there is an appetite which even Canada cannot fulfill and we are willing to buy whatever Canada is offering on crude, on LPG, on LNG,” Patnaik said, referring to oil and gas products.
Patnaik said turbocharging the trading relationship will help the two countries turn the page on years of bilateral bad blood.
