India/Canada joint statement

Below are highlights from a joint statement from Canada and India following the meeting of Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper and Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India.

Bilateral relations

“Prime Minister Modi commended Prime Minister Harper for his leadership in renewing the momentum of the bilateral relationship through his visits to India in 2009 and 2012. This momentum was maintained by the Governor General of Canada’s state visit to India in 2014. The two leaders welcomed the continuing diversification, growth and deepening of bilateral relations in recent years, rooted in shared values of democracy, pluralism, tolerance, human rights and rule of law, and based on expanding economic engagement and long standing people to people ties. They also agreed to hold regular discussions including on the margins of international meetings.”

Economy, trade and investment

“The Prime Ministers recognised that bilateral business and commercial linkages constitute key drivers of the wide ranging India-Canada partnership. In this regard, Prime Minister Harper commended Prime Minister Modi on his forward looking vision of energising the Indian economy and welcomed the policy measures and specific initiatives taken to improve the ease of doing business in India. They also appreciated the role played by the bilateral business community in both countries in promoting commercial partnerships between India and Canada.”

“The Prime Ministers reaffirmed the need to elevate two way trade and investment linkages to their full potential. They agreed to pursue specific measures to diversify and deepen bilateral trade and investment cooperation to increase the two way flow of goods and services. They recognised that early finalisation of the Bilateral Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement is an important step in realising the shared objective of enhanced trade and investment cooperation between the two countries. They welcomed the progress made in the recent bilateral discussions between treaty negotiators and agreed to intensify discussions to finalise the outstanding issues.”

Energy

“The Prime Ministers noted the significant opportunities available to expand bilateral trade and investment in energy and resources as well as related technologies and services. They welcomed efforts underway to deepen cooperation on energy through the Canada-India Ministerial Energy Dialogue and other mechanisms, and agreed to encourage enhanced commercial cooperation between companies in the energy sector. While recognising the significant scope and wide ranging potential for cooperation in this field between governments and the private sector, the Prime Ministers agreed to further collaboration in areas such as energy efficiency and innovation, oil and gas development, exchange of regulatory best practices, renewable energy, and nuclear energy.

“The Prime Ministers noted the strong complementarities between Canada, a responsible resource producer with the potential to become an energy exporter to new markets such as India, and India, which is looking to Canada to enhance its energy security by diversifying its sources of supply. To advance cooperation in this important sector, the Prime Ministers welcomed the convening of the next Ministerial meeting of the India-Canada Energy Dialogue by the end of 2015. The Prime Ministers welcomed the decision by Indian Oil Corporation to invest in a proposed new LNG project in British Colombia.”

Edited from statement by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/refining/06072015/india-canada-statement/