6th India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment has concluded, Ministers Mr. Piyush Goyal and Ms. Mary Ng have agreed to enhance cooperation for coordinated investment promotion and information exchange

On May 8, 2023, in Ottawa, the 6th India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) was co-chaired by Mr. Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, and Textiles, Government of India, and Ms. Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business, and Economic Development, Government of Canada. The Ministers emphasised the strong foundation of Canada and India's trade and economic partnership and acknowledged the considerable possibility to expand these linkages and economic partnership.

Ms. Mary Ng expressed her support for both India's role as G20 Chair and the goals it has set for itself in the working group for trade and investment. She expressed excitement about taking part in the future G-20 Trade and Investment Ministerial Summit, which would be held in India in August, 2023.

Bilateral commerce in products between India and Canada was worth over US$ 8.2 billion in 2022, an increase of about 25% from 2021. The Ministers acknowledged the significant potential for growing bilateral services trade, which was estimated to be worth US$ 6.6 billion in 2022, and emphasised the sector's contribution to the advancement of the bilateral relationship.

The Ministers placed strong emphasis on fostering cooperation in areas like clean technology for infrastructure development, essential minerals, electric cars, and batteries, renewable energy/hydrogen, and artificial intelligence (AI). The Ministers reviewed the results of the seven rounds of discussions that have already taken place for the India-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

The two parties decided to explore closer cooperation in the near future through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), preferably in the autumn of 2023, through actions including coordinated investment promotion, information sharing, and mutual support between the two parties.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.