Task force to study FTA between India, Canada
Economic Times, India
Task force to study FTA between India, Canada
PTI
20 June 2007
TORONTO: India and Canada have agreed to set up a joint task force to study the feasibility of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
The decision was taken at the second meeting of the India-Canada CEOs Forum held in Montreal. The task force would consist of members of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE), according to a release.
In fact, the Foreign Investment Protection Agreement (FIFA), which is being negotiated between India and Canada, is the first step towards the FTA between the two countries.
The two sides have set a target of $ 20 billion bilateral trade and $ 5 billion bilateral investment flow, the release said. Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath, who addressed the Forum along with Prime Minister of Quebec Jean Charest and Canadian Minister for International Trade David Emerson, told the CEOs that India and Canada must seize this opportunity to significantly increase two-way trade and investment flows. He also suggested that alongside the target of $ 10 billion each annually in bilateral goods and services trade to be achieved in five years, India and Canada should work to achieve $ 5 billion a year in bilateral investment flows by 2012. Nath expressed hope that the completion of the Doha Round of WTO Talks would go a long way in liberalising and enhancing trade and investment flows between the two countries, the release said. Nath also told the Canadian CEOs that the Indian economy had grown by nine per cent and the aim was to take this growth to ten per cent in the next couple of years.
