India and Canada Monday noted the huge opportunity for cooperation that exists between the two countries in various spheres.

“Canada has been an important partner in various spheres like strategy, economy, diplomacy, health, education and is blessed with natural resources,” said Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, addressing the 8th edition of the Indo-Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC) Annual Convention 2017.

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“As the population of Canada is less, we can explore opportunities around using those natural resources for a highly populated country like India.”

The convention, held ahead of the India-Canada Technology Summit (14-15 November), hosted more than 80 companies and firms of both the countries to promote corporate and economic dialogue.

Held at the Shangri-La Eros Hotel in the Capital, it was supported by the Union Ministry of External Affairs and the High Commission of Canada in India.

The Annual Convention also touched upon topics related to current policies, reforms in place, specific opportunities in key states of India, strategic advice of doing business in India and India’s innovative approaches to develop a competitive entrepreneurial ecosystem.

“Canada is one of India’s important partners and to take this partnership in various spheres to the highest level, I will be talking to the Minister of International Trade  of Canada in the upcoming days,” Prabhu, said addressing the delegates over video conference.

“The Government of India will open the dialogue for more opportunities.”

François-Philippe Champagne, Canada’s Minister of International Trade, said, “When I go  around the world, I don’t introduce Canada as a country of 35 million people but as a nation which is giving an access to its market to more than 1.2 billion people of India.”

Among the other delegates present were Margaret Skinner, Director, Sales EMEAI, Air Canada; Vijay Gokhale, Secretary, Economic Relations, Union Ministry of External Affairs; and Sanjeev Mittal, president, ICBC.
The flagship India-Canada Technology Summit, under the pivotal theme, ”Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Digitisation”, is expected to see the participation of around 150 Canadian companies and about 200 guests from India.

“For the first time Canada has been invited to the East Asia Summit, which is the premium security summit in the region,” the Canadian minister said about the two-day Summit that begins here on Tuesday.

“In today’s world of uncertainty and instability, Canada is a beacon of stability and certainty which is something we find common with India. The initiatives taken by the Indian government like Digital India, Skill India, Startup India and the Smart City project are generating momentum. Now it is time to invest more in the partnership to make the most of the opportunities.”

The Statesman was media partner at the event.