Canada keen on soft projects

The Canadian government would like to take up more collaborative projects with the government of India (GoI) in field of environment, energy and natural resources, according to sources in the Canadian government.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is hosting a Canadian delegation comprising government and corporate delegates and helping it identify potential areas of business and trade in the realm of environmental issues.

The team has had meetings with some industrialists in Hyderabad and would be meeting central government officials this weekend to explore the opportunities for joint activities in area of alternative energy, water management, environment sustenance.

"We are optimistic of some development in the upcoming meeting with the government official. Our main objective if to promote 'clean energy and clean development mechanism(CDM)," said the source.

To facilitate business opportunities between the two countries, office of the consulate of Canada in India have identified four projects for the purpose of 'carbon trading'.

"Out of the targeted eight project for the purpose of carbon trading, we have already identified four projects. The Canadian government with Indian counterparts will try to match the requirement of private companies from both the sides in areas relating to CDM," said the source.

To develop knowledge and information about CDM, CII in collaboration with Resource Futures International (RFI) of Canada has come up with training manual on the issue.

The two countries have worked together on environmental projects on fly ash with aid from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

Canadian portal

To facilitate trade and commerce between the two countries, the Canadian government has recently launched a portal, 'www.canadaindiabusiness.ca' to provide potential business organisation with all the relevant information.

The Canadian delegation will also be participating in the upcoming 16th International Engineering & Technology Fair organised by CII.

The fair will have a Canadian pavilion with five government agencies and 18 private companies.