Canada's last-minute G-7 invite to PM signals thaw

AS LAST-MINUTE INVITATIONS go, this one went down to the wire. After an initial snub, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed Canada has invited him to the upcoming Group of Seven summit.

- KARISHMA VASWANI Bloomberg

President Donald Trump's trade war is bringing the two nations, whose relations have been strained in recent years, closer together.

India isn't a member of the G-7—a grouping of the world's richest countries comprising the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Canada, and Japan. But it has been a regular attendee. This will be the nation's 12th time participating and Modi's sixth consecutive invitation. Ottawa had originally decided to leave him off the list, a move that raised questions about India's credibility in the international arena.

But newly elected Canadian leader Mark Carney has likely made an important calculation: Getting India onside is crucial as he tries to show that democracies can still function collaboratively, even in a fragmented world order. This comes despite Freedom House classifying the South Asian giant as only partly free, noting that the government led by Modi and the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has presided over discriminatory policies and a rise in persecution affecting Muslims.