India,Canada negotiate economic pact
By IANSTuesday, November 16, 2010
NEW DELHI - India and Canada Tuesday began negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) that was agreed upon during the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper in Seoul last week.
“The pact will deepen and diversify the bilateral economic relations,” Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma told reporters after holding the first round of negotiation with Canadian Minister of International Trade Peter Van Loan here Tuesday.
Sharma said the Indian economy was likely to get a benefit of nearly $12 billion annually from the comprehensive economic pact with Canada.
The commerce minister said the pact will benefit sectors like science and technology, agriculture, education, ICT, health care and life science, infrastructure and mining.
Bilateral merchandise trade with Canada totalled $4.2 billion in 2009, an increase of 70.2 percent from 2004 with exports increasing by 149.3 percent. At that time Canada’s main exports products were vegetables, fertilizers, machinery and wood pulp.
India is projected to be the world’s third largest economy by 2050 and is a priority market to Canada.
