The diplomatic repercussions from the comments of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the ongoing farmers' protests in India are continuing.
On Friday, the Ministry of External Affairs issued a demarche to the Canadian high commissioner over Trudeau's comments. Now reports have emerged that External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar will skip a virtual meeting of a group of foreign ministers scheduled to be held on December 7.
Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne had formed the Ministerial Coordination Group on COVID-19 (MCGC) in March to arrive at a common strategy to combat COVID-19. The forum discusses COVID-19-related challenges. Foreign ministers of UK, Italy, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, South Africa, Morocco, Brazil, Peru and Australia were the initial participants. India joined the grouping in October and Jaishankar attended a meeting in November.
The Print reported on Friday that Jaishankar will skip the meeting of foreign ministers next week convened by Canada as the Narendra Modi government was upset with Trudeau's comments.
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"Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) told the Canadian government that Jaishankar is not available to attend the 7 December meeting organised by Canadian Foreign Minister François-Philippe Champagne because of 'scheduling' issues," The Print reported.
Interestingly, despite the displeasure expressed by India over his comments, Trudeau on Friday reiterated his stance on Canada supporting “right to peaceful protest”.
