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Joshi hopeful of better Indo-Canada trade ties

Ajit Jain
India Abroad Correspondent in Toronto

Canadians wish to boost ties with India even though currently bilateral trade relations are not very strong, said Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Manohar Joshi.

He was in Toronto as the keynote speaker at a Canada-India Business Council-sponsored business seminar.

Before the start of the seminar, he said that he was hopeful that relations in the trade arena would soon be strengthened.

When asked about various sectors in which India seeks to attract Canadian investments and joint collaborations, Joshi said: "I think they can do it in infotech, infrastructure development, power sectors, roads, highways, etc."

Canadian companies could invest in India's public sector undertakings that are being privatised or heading for divestment. It can consider buy shares of these companies," he said.

"There is a lot of scope for trade between us," Joshi said.

He later told about 50 businessmen, including a 21-member Indian business delegation visiting Canada for the first time after a gap of three years, that 'relations between people to people are indeed becoming better very fast'.

So, he invited Canadian business people to India, particularly to Maharashtra, to establish joint ventures. India's 'economy is now fully opened to international competition', he said.

However, James Junke, director (South Asia) of the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, disagrees with this assertion.

He earlier said that "Indian market is quite closed and we are working on the issue of market access."

Joshi referred to Union Minister for Power Suresh Prabhu's visit to Canada and said that Prabhu had talked about the vast opportunities that exist in the Indian power sector as it is keen to hike its generating capacity by 10,000 MW each year for the next 10-12 years.

"The government has already formulated a framework to attract foreign investments in this sector," he said.

D K Jain, director, ministry of industry; Pradeep Kumar, joint secretary in the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises; Rajnikanta Verma, Indian High Commissioner; and others accompanied Joshi.

Thomas Bata, president of Bata Shoes, was also present during the occasion. He said that he was happy that India "is now a full member of the Asia Pacific Economic Council."

The seminar was chaired by Murray Jans, director of CIBC.

Joshi, who was earlier supposed to be on private visit, was an official guest of Canadian Minister for Industry Brian Tobin who, however, couldn't receive him. He was not in Ottawa where Joshi first landed for attending three days of community activities.

From Toronto he is heading for Calgary to attend the biennial Marathi Conference.

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