KANANASKIS, Canada: India and Canada agreed Tuesday (Jun 17) to return ambassadors to each other's capitals, turning the page on a bitter spat over an assassination as Canada's new leader welcomed counterpart Narendra Modi.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took office in March, invited Modi to the Canadian Rockies as a guest at the summit of the Group of Seven major economies.

Carney's predecessor Justin Trudeau last year publicly accused India of involvement in the assassination of a Sikh separatist on Canadian soil and expelled the Indian ambassador, triggering a furious reciprocal response from India.

Carney and Modi agreed that the two countries would name new high commissioners, as ambassadors are known between Commonwealth nations.

The two leaders made the decision "with a view to returning to regular services to citizens and businesses in both countries," the Canadian prime minister's office said in a statement.

The row had severely impeded diplomatic services between the two countries, which traded US$9 billion in 2023 and have close cultural ties due to the vast Indian diaspora in Canada.

Canada was obliged to suspend in-person services at all missions in India outside its embassy in New Delhi.

Modi took a conciliatory tone as he met Carney at the mountain resort, saying that both Canada and India were "dedicated to democratic values".

"The relationship between India and Canada is very important in many ways," Modi said.

He congratulated Carney on guiding his Liberal Party to an election victory and said: "I am confident that together ... India and Canada will work together to make progress in many areas."

POLITICALLY SENSITIVE

Carney said it was a "great honour" to welcome Modi to the G7 summit but made a passing allusion to the domestically sensitive row with a reference to "transnational repression."

Carney said he hoped to work with India on "the issues that we look to tackle together, from energy security ... the future of artificial intelligence, to the fight that we have against transnational repression and against terrorism."

Sikh protesters rallied on the streets of Calgary...