The Hindu Business Line : Quebec keen on attracting investments from India

THE Quebec Premier, Mr Jean Chareast, has said his country will focus on enhancing the Indo-Quebec bilateral trade, attracting Indian investment in the largest Canadian province and networking Quebec universities with Indian educational institutions.

Mr Chareast, who is the first-ever Quebec Premier to visit India, was in the city in connection with the CII Partnership Summit. He is leading a delegation of 20 industrialists and 15 delegates from Quebec universities.

Saying that networking with Indian educational institutes and universities is high up on his agenda, he said the focus would be to attract a larger number of Indian students of technology to Quebec universities.

Describing Quebec as the knowledge centre of Canada, he said currently, only 8 per cent of Indian students going to Canada for higher technological studies went to Quebec. "We will like to change this statistics with immediate effect."

The Indo-Quebec bilateral trade currently hovers around Canadian $580 million or Rs 25 crore.

Stating that both the countries were yet to fully explore the trading potential, Mr Chareast said: "That Quebec imports of Indian products have doubled in the past 10 years should not lead you to believe that you have completely exhausted all market prospects with Quebec. After all, Quebec alone constitutes the fourth largest export market of United States, ahead of countries like China and the UK."

Reiterating his interests in attracting Indian investment, he specially referred to the Tata group-controlled VSNL, which is in the process of concluding a $240-million acquisition of Teleglobe in Montreal.

"VSNL acknowledged Quebec's excellence in the telecommunications sector when it decided to acquire Teleglobe, one of the world's biggest wholesalers of international telecommunication services, headquartered in Montreal. With this transaction VSNL plans to make Montreal the centre of excellence for their communication network in North America," he said.