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Canadian Private Sector Leaders to India
Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE) – a private sector leader in promotion of international trade and investment liberalisation in Canada – has a long history of close cooperation with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Led by Mr. Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President, CCCE, the council representing the heads of 150 leading Canadian companies will visit India shortly. “I’m honoured to be leading the first purely private-sector visit to India”, said Mr. Thomas. CCCE is mounting this mission to New Delhi and Mumbai when India is transforming at a meteoric pace, transcending recent description of an elephant that is ‘poised’, ‘rising’ ‘emerging’ or ‘shedding its past’.
Economist more accurately quoted the India of today as a ‘tiger on the prowl’. The symbolism of Tata Steel’s recent takeover of Anglo-Dutch Corus Group plc, the Birla Group’s purchase of Novelis Inc (a former subsidiary of Canada’s Alcan), and the recent transfer of Teleglobe International Holding Ltd to three Indian powerhouses send an unmistakable message to business leaders in Canada and elsewhere: India has arrived.
India, for Canada, is a strategic priority. The Canadian business leaders who are visiting India this time understand fully that Canada needs to accelerate bilateral economic relationship and open new avenues for cooperation. The primary focus of this mission, therefore, will be to deepen commercial linkages with Indian business leaders. In addition, during the 2007 mission of the CCCE to India, the council looks forward to hearing provocative analysis, and to discussing creative ideas about what Canadian and Indian business leaders can do next in forging a stronger and deeper economic partnership.
India-Canada Biotechnology Front
Led by Dr. Arthur J Carty, the former NRC President and current Scientific Advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada, a high-level delegation from Canada attended the 4th International Biofuels Conference on 01-02 February 2007, followed by the ‘India-Canada Biofuels Workshop: Opportunity for Collaborations’ being held on 03 February 2007 in New Delhi. In addition to NRC research scientists and researchers, the Canadian delegation included Dr. Terry McIntyre, Bioenergy Technical Advisor, Government of Canada and Mr. David McKinnon, Senior Trade Commissioner, The High Commission of Canada to India. As the workshop was organised by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Dr. Renu Swaroop, Advisor, DBT, Government of India was one of the keynote speakers at the event.
Main objective of the workshop was to explore potential areas of future collaboration in science and technology between the two countries. The areas include the sectors such as information and communication technology, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology. Speakers from both the countries at the workshop addressed different perspectives on Indian and Canadian scenarios in biofuel developments in a wide range of issues regarding the value added products from biomass, biorhythms of biofuel, bioelectricity generation from biofuel, and applications of Canadian research to enhance energy production from agro-forestry feedstock.
Visit of Canadian Parliamentary Secretary
Canadian Parliamentary Secretary Mr. Ted Menzies is coming to India in March, leading a CEO forum on the one hand, and a mission of Canadian business executives particularly focused on infrastructure on the other.
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 “Canada is extremely well placed to help India manage its growth. As a nation, we’ve been very successful at translating our vast geography and wealth of natural resources into a strong, competitive, and open economy, and a high quality of life for our citizens. The Canada-India relationship holds enormous potential to build a new world of opportunities for our children—and ensure that they benefit from a strong and mutually prosperous Canada-India partnership for generations to come.”
Mr. David Emerson
Canadian International Trade Minister. |
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 “The first thing in developing bilateral relations is to build bridges among researchers and companies to get to know one another and learn to work together. And everyone has to try to build on their strengths in complementarities, so we can have an integrated approach. That’s what the S&T Agreement between India and Canada holds about with positive approach from both sides through science and technology. And we would do it by working together increasingly in a productive way towards our goals.”
Dr. Arthur J Carty
Scientific Advisor to the
Canadian Prime Minister |
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 “The tone of Indo-Canadian relations is highly positive. The mood music is good. In recent years, the two countries have expanded their government-to-government consultations in a broad range of fields, and, importantly, compared notes on counter-terrorism. They have also launched a Strategic Dialogue and routinely engage with each other to promote cooperation on science, technology, innovation and much else. Trade and investment figures are expanding very rapidly, in the range of 40 percent per annum.”
Mr. David Malone
Canadian High Commissioner to India |
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