New Delhi, May 10 (KNN) During the 6th India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment, the two sides agreed to explore enhanced cooperation through measures such as coordinated investment promotion, information exchange and mutual support.

The two parties in near future will sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) preferably in Fall of 2023, said the Ministry of Commerce & Industry.

The Ministers agreed on the importance of G2G coordination to promote critical mineral supply chain resiliency and committed to an annual dialogue at the official level on the margins of the Prospectors and Developers Association Conference (PDAC) in Toronto to discuss issues of mutual interest.

Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, along with Mary Ng, Minister of International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development, Government of Canada, co-chaired the 6th India- Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) on Monday in Ottawa.

The Ministers emphasised the solid foundation of the trade and economic relationship between Canada and India and recognized the significant opportunity to deepen bilateral ties and economic partnership.

Minister Mary Ng expressed her support for India as G20 Chair and the priorities pursued by India in the G20 Trade and Investment Working Group.

She indicated that she is looking forward to participating in the upcoming G-20 Trade and Investment Ministerial meeting in India scheduled to take place in August 2023.

India-Canada bilateral trade in goods reached about USD 8.2 billion in 2022, registering about 25 per cent growth compared to 2021.

The Ministers also underlined the contribution of the services sector in furthering the bilateral relationship and noted the significant potential for increasing bilateral services trade which stood at about USD 6.6 billion in 2022.

They emphasised on enhancing cooperation in sectors such as clean technologies for infrastructure development, critical minerals, electric vehicles and batteries, renewable energy/hydrogen, and AI.

The Ministers asked their officials to discuss trade remedies issues of bilateral importance on a regular basis.

They reviewed the progress so far achieved in the India-Canada Free Trade Agreement negotiations in the seven rounds of negotiations so far.

Both Ministers agreed to rework and relaunch the Canada-India CEO Forum with renewed focus and a new set of priorities.

The CEO Forum could be announced at a mutually-agreed early date. The CEO Forum would be a platform to enhance B2B engagement.

Minister Mary Ng announced that she would lead a Team Canada trade mission to India in October 2023. This will present an opportunity to further the trade and investment ties between the two countries as she is likely to bring a big business delegation for the same.  (KNN Bureau)