Canadian businesses and investors, including various Pension Funds, have shown enhanced interest and confidence in India over the past one year, Premiers of two provinces of that country told Prime Minister Narendra Modi here.
Premier of Ontario Kathleen Wynne and Premier of Prince Edward Island H Wade MacLauchlan conveyed this when they met Modi separately last evening, according to a PMO statement issued today.
The Premiers expressed deep appreciation and support for the initiatives launched by the Government of India, including in the fields of manufacturing, skill, infrastructure development, renewable energy, urban renewal, waste management, education and agriculture, the statement said.
During their meetings, they conveyed that over the past year, Canadian businesses and investors, including various Canadian Pension Funds, have shown enhanced interest and confidence in India, the PMO said.
This, the Premiers said, was evident from a strong participation from Canada in the India Investment Summit being held here today and tomorrow, the statement said.
Modi told them that India attaches high priority to its relations with Canada.
He referred to his visit to Canada in April last year, which was the first bilateral visit of the Prime Minister from India after a gap of nearly 42 years, and mentioned about subsequent developments in bilateral relations, saying these have highlighted the synergy and complementarities between the two countries in various fields, it said.
Modi conveyed his warm greetings to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and expressed confidence that his visit to India later this year would provide an opportunity to further deepen the strategic partnership between the two countries.
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In a separate statement, Wynne said her meeting with Modi was the second in less than a year and expressed confidence that her visit will help generate new business, and political and cultural connections that will lead to mutually beneficial future partnerships between India and Ontario.
Noting that India is the world's third-largest economy and a priority market for Ontario, the Premier of Canada's influential province said she talked with Modi about how to use shared knowledge to strengthen cooperation between the two regions and make them more prosperous.
"During our meeting, Prime Minister Modi and I discussed ways that we can continue to work together to explore mutually beneficial opportunities in agriculture and food processing, including a trip that Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Jeff Leal will undertake to India later this year to strengthen ties in this sector," she said.
"Providing companies with more opportunities to do business internationally is generating jobs and economic growth in both India and Ontario, and I look forward to further deepening this important relationship."
She said her business delegation of over 70 members reflects the shared priorities of Ontario and India, including infrastructure, education and skills development, agriculture, sustainable development and clean energy. "Our common purpose makes us natural partners," she said.
"In particular, we discussed how Ontario is ideally positioned to help support Prime Minister Modi's Smart Cities Initiative, a programme that will invest more than US$1 trillion over 20 years in sustainable infrastructure across India," she said.
Ontario has valuable expertise that can help India reach its sustainable development and urban renewal goals, Wynne said.
Citing an example, she said Ontario is making record-breaking investments in infrastructure and that the province is a North American leader in fighting climate change, creating innovative cleantech, and developing renewable energy.
