Prime Minister to travel to India for state visit in February

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will travel to India for a state visit next month.

Trudeau has made deepening economic ties with India a priority and recently completed his second visit to China as part of diversifying the government's trade agenda.

The Prime Minister's Office says the visit will build on recent meetings between Trudeau and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

He's scheduled to visit Agra, Amritsar, Mumbai and New Delhi on the trip from Feb. 17 to 23.

He'll also stop at the Punjab region's famed Golden Temple while in Amritsar.

Hindus and Muslims make up the majority of India's pluralistic society, with Sikhs just a small fraction.

But a large and politically active Sikh population in Canada has made the Golden Temple an attractive destination for Canadian politicians.

Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper visited the site in 2009 and then-prime minister Jean Chrétien was there in 2003.