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Trade Missions to India: Opportunities Await

Remarks by David Kilgour,

Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific and M.P. (Edmonton Southeast)

to the Canada–India Business Council

Fairmont Hotel Vancouver

Vancouver, September 11, 2002

Before I begin, let us reflect for a moment on the events of one year ago. On this day last year, the world united in grief, mourning and compassion for the victims of September 11. Here in Canada, Canadians opened their homes and their hearts. Let us pause for a moment and offer them our prayers. On this anniversary, we should remember the victims and grieve for their families, loved ones and friends. Let us also strengthen our resolve for peace in all parts of the world and reflect on how we can promote peace in our day to day lives.

On that note, Herb was very much looking forward to being here with you tonight, but unfortunately he had an emergency and couldn’t attend. I am honoured, however, that he asked me to be here instead, but I’m also conscious of the fact that I have work to do. As many of you know, he will be leading a trade delegation to India this November. Tonight, I am essentially his agent - I’m here to recruit!

Why India?

Fortunately, as Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific, I’m no stranger to the benefits of doing business in the Subcontinent. The business case is certainly not hard to make. Let me share with you a few statistics that recently caught my attention:

  • India is currently the 12th largest economy with one of the world’s largest middle classes; it is clearly an economy on the upswing.
  • If the size of relative costs of living are adjusted, it is the world’s fourth largest economy and is growing quickly as a magnet for investment and trade.
  • Canada is the 8th largest economy. Yet we are not among each other’s top trading partners.
  • While our two-way trade did in fact reach a record C$2 billion in 2001, it is still a far cry from what it can and should be.

That’s where Canadian businesses - like yours - come in. Consider the potential of India. As Peter Sutherland, Canada’s High Commissioner to India, pointed out when we met in Ottawa yesterday, Canada is four times as large as India with only 3% of its population. You’re all business people. With a market that size, I don’t think you need much convincing to appreciate that India is truly a country of opportunity and promise.

But it’s more than economics. India is the largest democracy in the world. In fact, India has the largest number of elected representatives in the world. As a country that not only shares our Commonwealth traditions but is also our second largest source for new Canadians, India and Canada should be a natural fit; yet it’s something we have to continue to work on, which is why we’re all here today.

As Minister Pettigrew noted in an address to the Confederation of Indian Industry in New Delhi during his trade mission to India this past April: “Our companies should use each other’s markets as springboards into neighbouring markets. Indian companies should think of Canada as the gateway to the NAFTA market, and Canadian firms should look at India as the entry points to South and Southeast Asia.”

Canada’s Re-engagement with India

On that note, let me step back for a moment and look at India from a broader perspective. As businesspeople, you are accustomed to assessing risks. In fact, it’s what you need to do to survive. There’s no doubt that the current situation between India and Pakistan might have been on some of your minds. So too might our re-engagement efforts with India. Some of you might be wondering how committed we are.

In short: hugely. Let me give you a couple of examples to illustrate Canada’s commitment to strengthening our ties. While it might seem an odd way to measure the strength of a relationship, official visits are often what cement our bilateral ties. From about 1998 until March of 2001, India had only one official visit from Canada - the Hon. Hedy Fry - and this, I’m told by our High Commissioner, was only because the conference Minister Fry was attending was being held there. Fast-forward to 2002, and in particular, January to April. In these short months, India welcomed four of our ministers - more than any other country, our High Commissioner noted. These included some of our most senior Cabinet Ministers - Ministers Manley and Pettigrew, as most of you know - and involved one of the largest trade missions ever led by a Canadian trade minister anywhere in the world.

These visits are not a coincidence; they are a clear demonstration that our relationship with India is “back on the rails.” And it works both ways. Just last year, we welcomed India’s Speaker as well as its Minister of Power. So far this year, we’ve been fortunate to host India’s External Affairs Minister as well as its Petroleum Minister; in fact, next week we will receive yet another - India’s Minister of Civil Aviation.

In the field of education and human resource development, we are seeing a particularly concerted effort at cementing our ties. I had the honour, for example, of meeting India’s Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Professor Rita Verma, when she visited Ottawa last week. Next week, I will have the privilege of hosting a lunch for one of Professor Verma’s colleagues - the Chair of India’s University Grants Commission, Dr. Arun Nigavekar, who, as the one who controls the purse strings, is one of the most influential people in India’s post-secondary education system.

All this is to say that Canada is committed to its re-engagement strategy with India. Visits like these - as well as visits by businesspeople like you - create an environment in which business, NGOs and people-to-people links flourish. We now have an Indo-Canadian community that is almost one million strong. Indo-Canadians are excelling in every field. They are becoming increasingly active politically - your former premier, Ujjal Dosanjh, is a perfect example - and are a driving force behind trade missions to India, like the historic mission lead by Minister Pettigrew this past spring and, of course, Herb’s upcoming mission later this year.

Opportunities

Let me move on then to one of the reasons I’m here today, which is to encourage you to participate in upcoming trade missions to India. As I’m sure all of you here know, India has undergone significant change over the last number of years - the kind that makes it increasingly attractive to investment and business. Over the last decade alone, it has deregulated its economy, created an enabling environment for business, increased its growth rate to about 6% and, as I’ve already mentioned, moved ahead of Canada to become the fourth largest economy in the world in terms of purchasing power parity. What does this mean for you? Opportunities. Permit me to outline a few.

As Herb would have mentioned had he been with you today, there is a wealth of opportunities for Canada’s natural resource sector here — for partnerships, products, investment, services, and Canadian expertise.

Energy is a good example. India has made a commitment to bringing electricity to the entire country by 2012, and the Indian government is offering financial incentives for renewable energy sources such as wind, small hydro and biomass.

There are also opportunities for Canadian oil production companies, as demand for crude oil is growing faster than domestic capacity for production, and a potential for increasing the market for our coking coal, which is well-suited to Indian consumers.

Canada's renowned capabilities in coal and metal mining and processing can help increase India's current production while at the same time offering greater protection of the environment.

India’s restrictions on domestic logging and its expanding market for wood products translate into potential opportunities for the Canadian forestry sector.

In the area of geomatics, India has a growing market for geomatics hardware, software and spatial data that is expected to reach close to $4 billion over the next five to seven years.

In each of these sectors, one of the key opportunities is the prospect of finding a suitable partner. Canadian geomatics firms, for example, some right here in British Columbia, have formed winning alliances with Indian companies to bid on and win international contracts.

Why Go?

As Herb would have undoubtedly told you had he been here, your participation in the mission is a win-win situation: you help Canada build on the momentum and goodwill established by Minister Pettigrew during his visit in April but, at the same time, you’ll get value for your time and money:

As a member of the mission, you will be able to showcase your technologies, products and services.

You will explore the dynamic Indian market and experience doing business in India.

You will be provided with opportunities to connect with potential partners and buyers, and meeting with government decision makers and business leaders.

You’ll have the chance to explore various cities to explore important commercial and high-tech centres — like Mumbai, Kolkata and Hyderabad.

These missions, however, are not just about exploring opportunities; they’re also about delivering concrete results. During Minister Pettigrew’s recent mission to India, participants signed five contracts and nineteen memorandums of understanding and five contracts, together worth over $25 million. Let me give you a few examples:

· Juice Zone Inc. signed a memorandum of understanding with Cogent Group to open Juice Zone franchises throughout India. Cogent Group will also establish several corporate offices to help organize future expansion.

· Agricultural Environment Renewal Canada Inc. signed an MOU with Summit Seeds India Limited to introduce the company’s hybrid seed genetic lines to India. The agreement authorizes its Indian partner to produce and commercialize the hybrid seeds throughout the country.

· Forensic Technology (WAI) Inc. signed and MOU with Lab Systems (I) Pvt. Ltd. of Mumbai to provide training and knowledge-based forensic information systems for the purpose of automating and networking all law enforcement agencies in 25 state and central forensic science laboratories in India.

In short, these missions produce results. The sign-up sheet is in the back! I hope to be able to add some of your success stories upon your return. For those of you in the natural resources sector, Herb tells you can get further information from the Department of Natural Resources’ website. For those in other sectors, please keep in mind that the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Affairs is here to help. For those of you in the education sector, I know there are education trade fairs in India planned later this month. I understand Canada will also be leading a large biotechnology and potential ICT mission to India, with significant support from the National Research Council, early next year. Thank you, again. Herb hopes to see you there!

 

 
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