Comments
India and Canada are committed to deepening their economic and financial relationship and enhancing their strategic partnership, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has said as he invited Canadian investment in India’s infrastructure sector.
“Both countries are committed to strengthening economic ties as there is a positive environment. Negotiators from both countries will meet soon to resolve sticking points,” he said.
Jaitley yesterday met his Canadian counterpart Bill Morneau and Canada’s International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland and reviewed the progress in the India-Canada relationship, including the proposed Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) and the Foreign Investment and Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA).
“Both countries are keen to finalise both the proposed agreements,” Jaitley said.
He said the two countries have also agreed to enhance their strategic partnership.
The minister also held a series of meetings with Canadian pension funds, bankers and financial sector companies.
“Foreign direct investment by Canadian investors was about $12 billion in India in the past 24 months. This does not include portfolio investment by Canadian investors,” he said.
“India has a good story to tell and is moving much faster than the rest of the world. The likely return on investments in India is much higher and the risk is much less than other nations,” he said.
Canadian Finance Minister Morneau in a statement said: “I am pleased to build on Canada’s longstanding relationship with India by exploring ways to deepen our economic and financial ties. It is important that Canada continues to engage with the world to create more opportunities and prosperity for the middle class.”
The two ministers will travel to the US later this week to attend the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group as well as a G20 meeting.
As co-chairs of the working group responsible for G20 growth strategies, both ministers are expected to highlight the importance of seizing the opportunity to invest in people and infrastructure to build a strong and prosperous global economy.
Canada and India have longstanding bilateral relations, built upon shared traditions of democracy, pluralism and strong interpersonal connections with an Indian diaspora of more than one million in Canada, Morneau said.
Building on this strong relationship, Morneau highlighted the Canada-India Finance Ministers Dialogue as an important initiative to deepen the economic and financial relationship between the two countries.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.