6th India-Canada Joint Ministerial Dialogue concluded in Ottawa on Trade & Investment

The 6th Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI) between India and Canada was held in Ottawa on May 8, 2023, which was co-chaired by Shri Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce & Industry, Consumer Affairs & Food, & Public Distribution & Textiles, Government of India and Hon’ble Mary Ng, Minister for International Trade, Export Promotion, Small Business and Economic Development. The Ministers present from the Government of Canada emphasized the solid foundation of trade and economic relations between India and Canada and acknowledged the important opportunity to deepen bilateral relations and economic partnership. The Ministers touched on the important discussions taking place at the various meetings of the G-20 being held in India this year under the Indian Presidency. In this context, Minister Ng noted India’s role as a global economy of the future and congratulated the Government of India and the Indian business organizations on the successes enjoyed so far at the G-20 events in India. She expressed her support for India as G20 Chair, and the priorities pursued by India in the G20 Trade and Investment Working Group. Minister Ng 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.In recognition of the critical importance of the Indo-Pacific region for Canada’s prosperity, security, and its capacity to address environmental challenges, Minister Ng noted the rolling out of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy and noted India’s importance in the region. The Ministers noted the resilience of bilateral trade in 2022 following the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine. Canada-India bilateral trade in goods reached nearly C$12 billion in 2022, a substantial 57% increase over the previous year. 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 C$8.9 billion in 2022. Ministers recognized the significant growth of two-way investments and their contribution to deepening economic and trade ties, appreciative of the improvements made by both countries to facilitate business growth and attract investment. The Ministers noted that the trade-related strengths of India and Canada are complementary and real potential exists for trade in both goods and services to expand significantly in both traditional and emerging sectors. With that goal in mind, the Ministers called for boosting the commercial ties between the two countries through enhanced cooperation and by forging partnerships to take advantage of the complementarities in such sectors as agricultural goods, chemicals, green technologies, infrastructure, automotive, clean energy, electronics, and minerals and metals. The Ministers further asked their officials to discuss trade remedy issues of bilateral importance on a regular basis.