Canada is open for Trade, Investments and People

Navdeep Bains, Minister for Innovation, Science & Economic Development, Canada

Canada is open for Trade, Investments and People. This was stated by Mr. Navdeep Bains, Hon’ble Minister for Innovation, Science & Economic Development, Canada. The Minister was addressing the India Canada Business Forum: Innovation and Business Connectivity organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Canada India Business Council and the India Canada Business Chamber in New Delhi today.

The Minister elaborated that the aim of the Canadian government is to invest in people and technology to help companies scale up. Canada, he stated has an Innovation and Skills Plan and is investing in skilling and re-skiiling people to foster innovation. This has helped develop a vibrant innovation and start-up eco-system in the country.

With reference to India, the Minister stated that the idea was to help Canadian companies grow as well as solve key problems in India. He pointed out that when he visited India in November 2017, he was accompanied by Canadian companies who had developed technologies which could help alleviate the problem of air pollution caused due to crop burning.

The Minister stated that Canada was the fastest growing G7 country and therefore presented tremendous opportunities for Indian companies to invest in the Canadian market. The Minister pointed out that Indian companies could use Canada as a gateway to the North American market. In addition, with the signing of the Canada – EU FTA, Indian companies would get access to the European market as well.  He invited Indian companies to invest in Canada.

Ms Bardish Chagger, Minister of Small Business and Tourism and Leader of Government in the House of Commons, Canada stated that Innovation is taking place in every sector and every region of Canada. The Canadian Government was creating super-clusters in the country to help create 50,000 jobs. She highlighted that their Government was collaborating with Hyderabad based T-Hub to come up with new solutions in areas such as Artificial Intelligence and Digital Technologies. She highlighted that promoting women entrepreneurs in the country is another major focus of their government.

Mr. Hari Bhartia, Past President, CII and Co-Chairman & Managing Director, Jubilant Life Sciences stated that his company entered Canada as they saw great opportunity in the field of nuclear medicine in which Canada was a leader. He stated that Canada has a great innovation eco-system which they were able to leverage and is helping them bring new drugs to the market.

The session also included Panel Discussions on “Innovation and Business Connectivity” as well as “Looking to the Future: How New Industries are driving Innovation”

CII