Commerce minister Piyush Goyal, who is currently in Canada, will on Monday discuss with his Canadian counterpart Mary Ng key economic issues such as investment promotion, green transition, and the ongoing negotiation between the two countries on a free trade agreement (FTA), according to an official statement.
“Goyal and Ng will co-chair the discussions for the sixth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) today in Ottawa,” a commerce ministry statement issued on Monday said.
MDTI is a bilateral mechanism, which provides institutional mechanism to discuss a broad spectrum of trade and investment related issues and cooperation areas.
The dialogue will focus on various themes, such as strengthening the bilateral trade relationship between India and Canada, investment promotion and cooperation, green transition, including critical minerals discussion and new areas of cooperation such as promoting B2B engagements, it said.
The two ministers will also review India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) negotiations, it added. Goyal is also the minister for industry, consumer affairs, food and public distribution, and textiles. Ng holds the portfolios of export promotion, small business and economic development.
At the last MDTI meeting in March 2022, both ministers launched the CEPA negotiations with a possibility to have an interim agreement or Early Progress Trade Agreement (EPTA). Since then, seven rounds of negotiations have been held.
Goyal will also visit Toronto from May 9-10, where he will have various engagements to promote trade and investment, it said. These engagements will include meetings with CEOs of key Canadian companies, a roundtable of Indian and Canadian CEOs, interaction with Canadian and Indian companies based in Canada, a financial sector roundtable, etc. He will be accompanied by a delegation of Indian CEOs led by FICCI.
The minister will also inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at SIAL CANADA-2023, the largest food innovation trade show in North America with the participation of more than 1,000 national and international exhibitors from 50 countries. The event will address the needs of the retail, food service and food processing industries.
At SIAL Canada, the Indian participants consist of a delegation from Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI), Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), India Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) and Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM). There will also be a Trade and Investment Promotion Event for the Agricultural and Food Processing sector with Indian companies and Canadian importers on the sidelines of SIAL-2023. This event is likely to be attended by 200 companies, the statement said.