Commerce Minister Goyal, Canadian counterpart Mary Ng agree to rework, relaunch Canada-India CEO Forum

Ottawa [Canada], May 10 : Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and his Canadian counterpart Mary Ng have agreed to rework and relaunch the Canada-India CEO Forum with renewed focus and a new set of priorities during the sixth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI).

It was decided during MDTI on Monday (local time) that the CEO Forum would be a platform to enhance business-to-business (B2B) engagement, according to a joint statement released by the commerce ministry on Wednesday.

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, along with Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Canada, co-chaired the sixth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) on May 8, 2023 in Ottawa.

The ministers emphasised the solid foundation of the trade and economic relationship between Canada and India and recognised the significant opportunity to deepen bilateral ties and economic partnership.

Minister Mary Ng expressed her support for India as G20 Chair and the priorities pursued by India in the G20 Trade and Investment Working Group. She indicated that she was looking forward to participating in the upcoming G20 Trade and Investment Ministerial meeting in India scheduled to take place in August 2023.

India-Canada bilateral trade in goods reached about USD 8.2 billion in 2022, registering about 25 per cent growth compared to 2021, according to the statement released on Wednesday. The Ministers also underlined the contribution of the services sector in furthering the bilateral relationship and noted the significant potential for increasing bilateral services trade which stood at about USD 6.6 billion in 2022.

The Ministers emphasised enhancing cooperation in sectors such as clean technologies for infrastructure development, critical minerals, electric vehicles and batteries, renewable energy/hydrogen, and artificial intelligence (AI). The Ministers asked their officials to discuss trade remedies issues of bilateral importance on a regular basis.

The Ministers reviewed the progress so far achieved in the India-Canada Free Trade Agreement negotiations in the seven rounds of negotiations so far. The Ministers reaffirmed that EPTA would cover, among others, high-level commitments in goods, services, investment, rules of origin, stary and phytostary measures, technical barriers to trade, and dispute settlement, and may also cover others where mutual agreement is reached.

Among the outcomes during MDTI, the two sides agreed to explore enhanced cooperation through measures such as coordinated investment promotion, information exchange and mutual support between the two parties in near future through a MoU preferably in Fall of 2023.

The Ministers also agreed on the importance of G2G coordination to promote critical mineral supply chain resiliency and committed to an annual dialogue at the official level on the margins of the Prospectors and Developers Association Conference (PDAC) in Toronto to discuss issues of mutual interest.

Minister Mary Ng announced that she would lead a Team Canada trade mission to India in October 2023. This will present an opportunity to further the trade and investment ties between the two countries as she is likely to bring a big business delegation for the same.

The Ministers noted the significant movement of professionals and skilled workers, students, and business travellers between the two countries, and its immense contribution to enhancing the bilateral economic partnership and in this context noted the desire for enhanced discussions in the area of migration and mobility.

The Ministers discussed appropriate mechsms to discuss talent and innovation partnership to strengthen the bilateral innovation ecosystem, according to the ministry's statement.

In order to review the progress being made under mechsms established under the MDTI and regular follow-up both sides will come up with an annual work plan which would be reviewed and reported on a regular basis.

The Ministers agreed to remain engaged to provide sustained momentum to building linkages and strengthening cooperation across sectors to harness the full potential of the trade and investment relationship between India and Canada.