Friday, March 29, 2024
spot_img

Canadian Business Councils demand secure trade agreement with India

 “There is no path to achieving success in this massive and strategically important region without building strong and enduring economic ties with India—one of Canada’s last large, untapped trade opportunities.”

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

The Business Council of Canada and the Canada India Business Council in a recent report recommended that the Canadian government build stronger economic ties with India and develop a “comprehensive India strategy”. “There is no path to achieving success in this massive and strategically important region without building strong and enduring economic ties with India—one of Canada’s last large, untapped trade opportunities,” said the report, published on August 4, reported theepochtimes.com.

The report included analysis from Ciuriak Consulting, which found that exports to India grew by an average of nearly 12 percent per year between 2001 and 2019, rising to US$3.9 billion from US$517 million. Over that same period, Canada’s imports from India rose at an annual pace of nearly 10 percent.

Trade negotiations between Canada and India began in 2010 under the Conservative government of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but the deal was later stalled and has been shelved for the past 12 years

While Canada-India trade appears quite robust, the report said that the Indian market was actually shifting away from North America and Europe, and was increasing trade with China, the United Arab Emirates, and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, such as Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Vietnam. “The best path forward is a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with India,” the report said.

CEPA, which the report describes as an bilateral trade deal, would increase Canada-India two-way trade by an estimated $8.8 billion a year, and bring about an annual GDP boost of 0.25 percent by 2035.

Trade negotiations between Canada and India began in 2010 under the Conservative government of former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but the deal was later stalled and has been shelved for the past 12 years. In early 2022, the two governments announced plans to resume talks toward a comprehensive free-trade deal.

******************************************************

Readers

These are extraordinary times. All of us have to rely on high-impact, trustworthy journalism. And this is especially true of the Indian Diaspora. Members of the Indian community overseas cannot be fed with inaccurate news.

Pravasi Samwad is a venture that has no shareholders. It is the result of an impassioned initiative of a handful of Indian journalists spread around the world.  We have taken the small step forward with the pledge to provide news with accuracy, free from political and commercial influence. Our aim is to keep you, our readers, informed about developments at ‘home’ and across the world that affect you.

Please help us to keep our journalism independent and free.

In these difficult times, to run a news website requires finances. While every contribution, big or small, will makes a difference, we request our readers to put us in touch with advertisers worldwide. It will be a great help.

For more information: pravasisamwad00@gmail.com

Tirthankar Ghosh
Tirthankar Ghosh
Tirthankar Ghosh is a senior journalist and presently Managing Editor, Newsline Publications. He has also been writing for well over 15 years for the New York-based Air Cargo News Flying Typers.

Related Articles

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

- Advertisement -

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Register Here to Nominate