Pakistan, July 21 -- The first visit by a Canadian foreign minister to Pakistan in almost two decades reads as an admission of how badly an important relationship has been neglected. Foreign Minister Anita Anand's meetings in Islamabad produced the right list of priorities-trade, investment, agriculture, mining, energy, automobiles, education and labour mobility-along with a phytosanitary protocol for Canadian canola and an undertaking to keep working towards an investment-protection agreement.

The economic base is respectable, though still far below what the relationship can sustain (bilateral merchandise trade reached roughly Rs 238 billion in 2025). With more than 300,000 Canadians of Pakistani origin, and Pakistan as Canada's eighth-...