India and Canada appoint reciprocal high commissioners to restore ties

India and Canada on Thursday announced reciprocal appointments of senior diplomats to each other’s capitals, a step toward restoring ties nearly 10 months after both countries expelled the other’s top envoys amid a bitter dispute. India said career diplomat Dinesh K. Patnaik, currently ambassador to Spain, will become New Delhi’s high commissioner to Ottawa, while Canada’s foreign minister, Anita Anand, named Christopher Cooter as Canada’s new high commissioner in New Delhi.

Anand said the appointments follow commitments made by the two leaders at the G7 summit in Alberta in June and reflect “Canada’s step-by-step approach to deepening diplomatic engagement and advancing bilateral cooperation with India.” She added that Cooter’s nomination is “an important development toward restoring services for Canadians while strengthening the bilateral relationship to support Canada’s economy,” in a government statement.

India’s foreign ministry said Patnaik, a 1990 batch Indian Foreign Service officer, is expected to take up the Ottawa posting shortly. Patnaik has served at Indian missions in Beijing, Dhaka, Vienna and Geneva and previously as deputy envoy to the United Kingdom, as well as...