Meeting with H E Mr Herb Dhaliwal, Hon'ble Minister of Natural Resources of Canada
November 12, 2002, New Delhi

Welcome Address by Mr. Yogendra K. Modi, Vice President, FICCI

• H.E. Mr. Herb Dhaliwal, Hon'ble Minister of Natural Resources of Canada
  
  
• H.E. Mr. Peter Sutherland, High Commissioner, High Commission of Canada
  
  
• Mr. Mohinder Verma, Chairman, India-Canada Joint Business Council
  
  
• Mr. Anil Razdan, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Power, Government of India
  
  
• Mr. J. M. Mauskar, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas
  
  
• Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary-General, FICCI
  
  
• Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today it gives me great pleasure to welcome Mr. Herb Dhaliwal to FICCI, a Minister of unique potential and a symbol of deep rooted India-Canada bilateral friendship which has grown and matured through the generations.

A man of many accomplishments in the fields of business and politics, Mr. Dhaliwal represents the great potential and possibility that is awaiting to be realized in the specific context of our business relations in wide ranging sectors. Over the years Canadians of Indian origin have become one of the most prominent symbols of India-Canada partnership in politics, culture, economy and business.
India has always shared cordial and warm political ties with Canada. However, minor challenges were felt after India's decision to develop a nuclear capability, affecting bilateral relations, particularly business. But there is a definite warming up towards each other specially in the past few years. This trend has been signified by high profile visits and major business delegations specially this year. Mr. Pettigrew, Minister for International Trade, in April this year, had led one of the largest cross sectoral delegation ever to India which had provided a major boost to business interface. Now we have this very high profile delegation representing key sectors including Geomatics, Geoscience & Geological Exploration, Electrical Power, Energy including energy efficiency & Renewable energy, Oil & Gas, Alternate Fuels, Wood & Wood Products and Mining led by Mr. Herb Dhaliwal, Hon'ble Minister of Natural Resources of Canada.

We welcome and value this initiative and reciprocate the same wholeheartedly. The Special Trade Action Plan, that has been developed to strategically plan for enhancing deeper trade and investment relations between our two countries is a landmark in our business relations. The economic reforms introduced in India in the 1990's has led to a broadening of Indo-Canadian economic and commercial relations. The total value of trade between the countries has more than doubled from US $ 468 million in 1990-91 to US $1.1 billion in 2002-02.

But our share in each other's trade is still quite minuscule, show figures Canada's share in India's trade is just around 1.25 per cent and India's share in Canada's trade is just 0.23 per cent. There is a huge potential for increasing our bilateral trade particularly in areas of software, textiles, drugs and pharmaceuticals, organic chemicals, newsprint and electronic products.

India has emerged as a special focus also in the context of Canada's integrated plan for business development in the South Asia as a whole, with India, the fourth largest economy in the world as the main market. Presence in the Indian market ensures easier access to the markets of the neighbouring States by virtue of geographical proximity, sharing of a common business language, i.e. English, similar geographical and the natural resource based economic opportunities such as hydro-electric, mining, forest and forest product etc. Also for many exporters from Canada the critical market mass does not exist if each country in this region is looked at independently but may exist if looked at supra nationally.

We are very proud to be the strategic partner for Canada in the South Asia region. This partnership promises to be mutually beneficial with much scope for growth in bilateral trade in goods, services and technology. Significant opportunity for investment in areas of infrastructure including transportation, housing, telecommunication, roads and ports and airports, railways, management of natural resources both in terms of exploiting and conservation and, of course, in the area of energy.

Today as we sign the MoU in the vital area of energy conservation, we will be taking a major step towards ensuring a long term partnership between our two nations with a lasting impact on the clean and sustainable growth of industry.
The other significant area where we would seek out the support of Canadian enterprises is the field of hydropower development. FICCI would like to offer its platform to cultivate Canada as our preferred partner for developing this sector in India. Not only does India have a vast potential to develop this environment-friendly, cost effective source of power and that there is an imbalance existing currently in the hydro : thermal power ratio, but also because hydropower, if developed to its full potential will be one of the key sources of India's energy security in the years to come. Mr. Dhaliwal we would seek your response in this context.

With these few words I would welcome you all once again.

Thanking you.