Ed Fast, minister of international trade in the government of Canada, recently visited India and met senior ministers. He told Nayanima Basu his country was keen on the defence and infrastructure sectors here but that required adequate protection for the investors. Edited excerpts:
Are we going to see increased investments from Canada, now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened the door for foreign capital?
We welcome PM Modi’s clear signal to the world that he welcomes foreign investment by facilitating his ‘Make in India’ programme. We believe Canada has strengths in many different areas — technology, health care, infrastructure.
We have not discussed investments but we have discussed another agreement that has languished for a number of years, the draft of a bilateral investment treaty. Those negotiations should have concluded three years ago but for some reasons, the previous government did not move forward. We are re-engaging with the Indian government on how we can effectively send clear signals to Canadian businesses that India is open for business and will protect business. It will also send clear signals to Indian investments in Canada.
In your discussions with ministers Arun Jaitley & Nirmala Sitharaman, did you press for an early conclusion of this agreement?
We were advised by the previous government that they were reviewing all foreign investment policies. We were told that three years earlier but that never seemed to have materialised. We are confident now that the Modi government understands the importance of foreign investment and will find the way forward to send that message to the world, especially from trusted partners like Canada.
Now that the government has liberalised foreign direct investment policy for the defence and railway sectors, can we expect Canadian conglomerates entering India?
You will see significant interest in these sectors from us. The most prominent one is Bombardier, which has heavily invested here. We understand what Modi means when he is saying ‘Make in India’ but he is saying to the Canadian companies to come and invest here, generate jobs, to develop capacity in India and our Canadian companies are aware of that. For example, Bombardier is creating more and more jobs in India in the real sector. We have two of the largest railway companies in North America, CP and CN, and as the Indian government grows its infrastructure programme, I would expect these companies would show interest in being part of the solution.
Do you see an India-Canada comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) getting concluded anytime soon, now that the new government has decided to negotiate every pending trade talk from scratch?
We very much believe that Canada can be a preferred and trusted partner of India as it undertakes significant reforms. I do not believe that is the discussion we are having, on renegotiating the deal. We have discussed how to re-energise these negotiations. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the negotiations have languished because you were approaching elections and we have welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s coming and his proposed economic reform measures are bold.
But this government is not open for trade deals as of now.
We understand that the PM is identifying the countries that will be his priority focus over the next several years. We believe that Canada as a kinder, gentler and more flexible nation is the perfect partner for India.
And as PM Modi considers which country he wants to deepen India's trade and investment relationship with and perhaps put forward a formal framework agreements like trade agreements, I believe Canada is well place to be that trusted partner.
Is that the reason why you think the bilateral trade has suffered?
It is not that it has not grown but what we are saying is that a $6 billion bilateral trade relationship, which is almost evenly balanced, is quite modest when you consider the potential between our two economies.
You may recall about four years ago your then PM Manmohan Singh and our PM Stephen Harper decided to increase bilateral trade from $5 billion then to about $15 billion a year.
We have not achieved that. We believe Canada has done its part to try to move the bilateral dialogue forward and we have received very promising signals from this government that they are keen to move on CEPA.
We believe what is required to put in place is a more formal trade and investment platform from which we can dramatically increase our bilateral trade consistent with the goals set in 2010.
India is in process to frame its own comprehensive IPR policy. How important is that for Canadian companies?
It is very very important. Modern, innovative, knowledge based economies need to have robust IP systems in place so that innovators are given incentives.
In Canada we have a highly developed IP regime that respects the contribution innovators make to a strong knowledge based economy. PM Modi is aimed at reforming India's IP regime and improving the prosperity of India.
Are we going to see increased investments from Canada, now that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has opened the door for foreign capital?
We welcome PM Modi’s clear signal to the world that he welcomes foreign investment by facilitating his ‘Make in India’ programme. We believe Canada has strengths in many different areas — technology, health care, infrastructure.
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Which Canadian companies are interested and how much capital is foreseen?
We have not discussed investments but we have discussed another agreement that has languished for a number of years, the draft of a bilateral investment treaty. Those negotiations should have concluded three years ago but for some reasons, the previous government did not move forward. We are re-engaging with the Indian government on how we can effectively send clear signals to Canadian businesses that India is open for business and will protect business. It will also send clear signals to Indian investments in Canada.
In your discussions with ministers Arun Jaitley & Nirmala Sitharaman, did you press for an early conclusion of this agreement?
We were advised by the previous government that they were reviewing all foreign investment policies. We were told that three years earlier but that never seemed to have materialised. We are confident now that the Modi government understands the importance of foreign investment and will find the way forward to send that message to the world, especially from trusted partners like Canada.
Now that the government has liberalised foreign direct investment policy for the defence and railway sectors, can we expect Canadian conglomerates entering India?
You will see significant interest in these sectors from us. The most prominent one is Bombardier, which has heavily invested here. We understand what Modi means when he is saying ‘Make in India’ but he is saying to the Canadian companies to come and invest here, generate jobs, to develop capacity in India and our Canadian companies are aware of that. For example, Bombardier is creating more and more jobs in India in the real sector. We have two of the largest railway companies in North America, CP and CN, and as the Indian government grows its infrastructure programme, I would expect these companies would show interest in being part of the solution.
Do you see an India-Canada comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) getting concluded anytime soon, now that the new government has decided to negotiate every pending trade talk from scratch?
We very much believe that Canada can be a preferred and trusted partner of India as it undertakes significant reforms. I do not believe that is the discussion we are having, on renegotiating the deal. We have discussed how to re-energise these negotiations. Over the past two-and-a-half years, the negotiations have languished because you were approaching elections and we have welcomed Prime Minister Modi’s coming and his proposed economic reform measures are bold.
But this government is not open for trade deals as of now.
We understand that the PM is identifying the countries that will be his priority focus over the next several years. We believe that Canada as a kinder, gentler and more flexible nation is the perfect partner for India.
And as PM Modi considers which country he wants to deepen India's trade and investment relationship with and perhaps put forward a formal framework agreements like trade agreements, I believe Canada is well place to be that trusted partner.
Is that the reason why you think the bilateral trade has suffered?
It is not that it has not grown but what we are saying is that a $6 billion bilateral trade relationship, which is almost evenly balanced, is quite modest when you consider the potential between our two economies.
You may recall about four years ago your then PM Manmohan Singh and our PM Stephen Harper decided to increase bilateral trade from $5 billion then to about $15 billion a year.
We have not achieved that. We believe Canada has done its part to try to move the bilateral dialogue forward and we have received very promising signals from this government that they are keen to move on CEPA.
We believe what is required to put in place is a more formal trade and investment platform from which we can dramatically increase our bilateral trade consistent with the goals set in 2010.
India is in process to frame its own comprehensive IPR policy. How important is that for Canadian companies?
It is very very important. Modern, innovative, knowledge based economies need to have robust IP systems in place so that innovators are given incentives.
In Canada we have a highly developed IP regime that respects the contribution innovators make to a strong knowledge based economy. PM Modi is aimed at reforming India's IP regime and improving the prosperity of India.