By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 15 Jul: Dr Pankaj Kumar Pandey, Secretary, Industries, Uttarakhand, along with Rohit Meena, Director, General Industries, Sudhir Chand Nautiyal, Director, Industries, met on Thursday the Trade Commissioner, Payal Kalra, Canadian High Commission, to explore bilateral trade and investment opportunities between Uttarakhand and Canada.
The officials discussed strengthening the bilateral relationship and agreed to expand trade, economic linkages and cooperation in various sectors.
The visiting Canadian delegate noted Uttarakhand as a promising state with ample opportunities for investors, including the sector-specific policies, single window clearance system, pollution-free environment, road and rail connectivity, and logistics parks, which makes the state one of the suitable destinations for Canadian companies to invest.
The bilateral trade between India and Canada stood at $12.4 billion in 2021. Over 600 Canadian companies have a presence in India. Indian companies in Canada are active in the fields of information technology, natural resources, steel, and banking. The negotiations for a comprehensive economic partnership between the two sides resumed in April 2022. The objective of this meeting was to have more business opportunities for Canadian companies in the state of Uttarakhand.
The Secretary, Industries, also assured that the Government of Uttarakhand would do its best to facilitate investors from Canada for a smooth grounding of their upcoming projects.
The focus areas of Manufacturing -Pharmaceutical, Automobiles, Medical Devices, Tourism – Tourism & Hospitality, Film Shooting, Wellness – Wellness & AYUSH, Natural Fibre Nutraceuticals, Agri and Allied-Horticulture, Floriculture, Organic Food, Herbs & Aromatics, Food Processing, Energy – Solar Energy, Hydro Power, Biomass, and Futuristic – Information Technology, Biotechnology, Education & Skilling, Fintech of the State were also discussed.
The Trade Commissioner of Canada proposed to invite a delegation on Infrastructure, Ayurveda, and wellness – Fragrances, beauty and cosmetics in the month of October -November. Further to this, she also offered to sign an MoU between Start-Up Uttarakhand and Toronto Business Development Centre.
