Piyush Goyal set to visit Canada for 6th India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment

New Delhi [India], May 8 (ANI): Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal will be in Canada’s Toronto from Tuesday-Wednesday, where he will have various engagements to promote trade and investment.

The engagements will include meetings with CEOs of key Canadian companies, a Round Table of Indian and Canadian CEOs, interaction with Canadian and Indian companies based in Canada and a Financial Sector Round table, among others. The visit is expected to impart further momentum to bilateral trade and investment relations.

The Minister would be accompanied by a delegation of Indian CEOs led by industry body FICCI.

Minister Goyal along with Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Government of Canada, will co-chair the discussions for the sixth India- Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) in Ottawa.

MDTI is a bilateral mechanism that provides an institutional mechanism to discuss a broad spectrum of trade and investment-related issues and cooperation areas.

The Dialogue will focus on various themes including strengthening the Bilateral Trade Relationship between India and Canada, Investment Promotion and Cooperation, Green Transition – including Critical Minerals discussion and new Areas of Cooperation such as promoting B2B engagements.

The ministers will also review India-Canada CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) negotiations.

At the last MDTI meeting in March 2022, both ministers launched the CEPA negotiations with the possibility of an interim agreement or EPTA (Early Progress Trade Agreement). Since then, seven rounds of negotiations have been held.

Goyal will also inaugurate the Indian Pavilion at SIAL CANADA-2023, which is the largest food innovation trade show in North America with the participation of more than 1000 national and international exhibitors from 50 countries.

There will also be a Trade and Investment Promotion Event for the Agricultural and Food Processing sector with Indian companies and Canadian importers on the sidelines of SIAL-2023. This event is likely to be attended by 200 companies.