Jun Sarkar, Ottawa,Canada: National Security Advisor Ajit Doval concluded a two-day visit to Canada on Saturday, February 7, 2026, finalising a landmark agreements with top Canadian officials to station mutual security and law-enforcement liaison officers, thereby enhancing real-time intelligence sharing on transnational threats.
In a high-level dialogue with Nathalie G. Drouin, Canada’s Deputy Clerk and National Security and Intelligence Advisor to the Prime Minister, both nations pledged to formalize cybersecurity policy cooperation, expedite information exchanges on cyber vulnerabilities, and devise a shared workplan addressing national security priorities, including the illicit trafficking of fentanyl precursors and organized crime syndicates.
The Ministry of External Affairs underscored that these measures would streamline bilateral communications while respecting domestic laws and international commitments, particularly in combating fraud and immigration enforcement irregularities.
Preceding this on Friday, February 6, 2026, Doval engaged Canada’s Minister for Public Safety, Gary Anandasangaree, to acknowledge strides in citizen safety initiatives and chart practical collaborations.
Framed within routine bilateral security dialogues, the engagements signal a thaw in India-Canada relations strained since 2023 over the killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, fostering renewed trust through tangible mechanisms.
This diplomatic thrust arrives as global uncertainties amplify the imperatives for robust countermeasures against hybrid threats, positioning the liaison framework as a cornerstone for preemptive action.
India-Canada cybersecurity ties trace back to foundational developments in the mid-2010s, when Ajit Doval’s 2016 Ottawa visit laid early groundwork for security dialogues amid shared concerns over digital black markets and cyber espionage, as explored in Gateway House reports advocating cooperative frameworks for threat intelligence and capacity-building. By 2019, these evolved into structured opportunities for joint exercises and policy alignment on cyber norms, complementing broader Comprehensive Economic Partnership talks, while Canadian firms like BlackBerry and Tenable initiated India-focused penetration testing and vulnerability management services to tap the burgeoning market.
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