Canada is keen on boosting bilateral trade and economic relations with India and also act as the chief catalyst in helping India become full-fledged member of the Group of Eight (G-8) forum, said Jim Karygiannis, member of parliament for Scarborough-Agincourt.
He said “if Canada fails to tie the right chords of mutual cooperation with India and China and fails to help these economies becoming full active partners in G-8, then Canada will stand to lose.” “Bilateral trade reached record levels in 2006 at $3.6 billion, with Canadian exports to India rising 54 per cent over 2005, to $1.7 billion and Canadian imports from India rising 7.4 per cent over 2005 to $1.9 billion in 2006,” he admitted.
“If Canada does not open its doors, integrate its resources especially in areas such as water, energy conservation, technology transfer with India then Canada will stand to lose” he added.
He mentioned possible areas of cooperation like water and water treatment, energy conservation, technology transfer, agriculture and food processing.
He admitted that the immigration success rate of India is relatively very low, with only 60 percent of applicants getting permission. “Many cases are rejected by the immigration department due to heavy-handedness and this needs to be worked out so that trade and business delegation visas for bilateral trade can grow,” he added.