Ottawa, Feb. 23 -- India's High Commissioner to Canada, Dinesh Patnaik, has expressed optimism that India and Canada could conclude a comprehensive trade agreement within a year, despite past delays in negotiations, The Canadian Press reported.

Speaking ahead of Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's anticipated visit to India, Patnaik said a 12-month timeline for finalising the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) is achievable given the evolving geopolitical landscape and growing need for collaboration across sectors.

"We expect it to be much faster, given that we both have had enough experience of doing these kinds of free trade agreements in the last one or two years," Patnaik said, as quoted by The Canadian P...