Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family visited the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family have reached Agra for a visit to the iconic Taj Mahal. The Trudeaus landed in Delhi last evening on a week-long visit to India that's expected to deepen ties as much with New Delhi as with Indians in Canada. The 46-year-old Prime Minister, who once remarked that he had more Sikhs in his cabinet than PM Narendra Modi, is accompanied by a chunk of his cabinet ministers. This trip, he said, was focused on creating jobs and strengthening the "deep connection" between the people of the two nations.
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was welcomed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport by Minister of State for Agriculture Gajendra Singh and Indian Ambassador to Canada Vikas Swarup.
Mr Trudeau is accompanied by his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau and children Hadrien, Ella-Grace Margaret and Xavier James Trudeau. "For me to be able to be here on an official trip while bringing my kids with me to share this is really special and being able to enjoy this as a dad with my kids is really nice," Mr Trudeau said after the visit to the Taj Mahal.
Tomorrow, Mr Trudeau, who is on his first state visit to India, will fly to PM Modi's home state, Gujarat. Besides a visit to Mahatma Gandhi's Sabarmati Ashram on Monday, Mr Trudeau will also visit the Akshardham Temple in Gujarat and lead a discussion at the Indian Institute of Management on "Education and Investment Opportunities" with students.
Over the rest of the week, Mr Trudeau will participate in business round-tables in Mumbai to promote trade, investment and job creation. He will also meet representatives of Indian Film industry to explore opportunities in the field of cinema.
His bilateral meeting with PM Modi is scheduled for February 23, during which the two leaders are expected to focus on trade, defense, civil nuclear cooperation, space, tackling climate change energy and education.
Counter-terror cooperation is also expected to be a key focus area. India's concerns over Sikh radicalism in Canada is understood to have figured in the meeting between the National Security Advisers of the two nations held a few days ago.
A number of Justin Trudeau's cabinet colleagues are accompanying him on this visit. Three of them are Indian origin -- Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains, Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan and Infrastructure Minister Amarjeet Sohi. Besides Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, and Science and Sports Minister Kirsty Duncan are also part of the team.
In 2017, two-way merchandise trade between Canada and India amounted to $8.4 billion, split equally between exports to and imports from India. India was Canada's eighth largest destination for merchandise exports.
Mr Trudeau's agenda is also expected to include a visit to the Golden Temple in Amritsar and Delhi's Jama Masjid and a cricket ground. The cultural component of the visit is seen as an outreach to estimated 1.4 million people of Indian origin settled in Canada. India is Canada's second-largest source of immigrants.
Ahead of the visit, Mr Trudeau tweeted, "Wheels up for India and a busy visit," attaching a photograph of his wife and three children boarding the aircraft.
