Toronto: Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) launched its six-city India Mission 2013 today. The 2013 trade mission is the largest ever organized by the ICCC and comprises over 120 members including several prominent dignitaries.

“Our purpose is to forge linkages between the small businesses in Canada and India, and we have lined up over 30 interactive sessions, B2B meetings, seminars, and workshops during the next two weeks,” Naval Bajaj, President of ICCC and the leader of the delegation said.

The mission comprises small businesses and several other prominent individuals, entrepreneurs, professionals and community leaders. In addition to this being the largest delegation to India, there are several other distinguishing features to India Mission 2013.

This is the first time that two Canadian cities have joined the mission – these are the City of Brampton and the City of Markham. Her Worship Susan Fennell, the Mayor of Brampton, and His Worship Frank Scarpitti, the Mayor of Markham are leading delegation comprising councillors and officials of the City’s economic development department from Brampton and Markham respectively. In addition, the delegation also comprises senior leaders such as Hon. Dr. Asha Seth, Senator and Hon. Patrick Brown, MP and Chair of Canada-India Parliamentary Association, Hon. Devinder Shory, MP, and Hon. Parm Gill, MP.

The two-week India Mission 2013 commences on January 3 and concludes on January 16. The mission will be visiting Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, Delhi and Amritsar. The highlights of the Mission are participation in the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD-India) in Kochi and the Vibrant Gujarat 2013 Summit in Gandhinagar. PBD-India is an annual global convention of the Indian Diaspora, and Vibrant Gujarat is the bi-annual global convention of business and commerce in Gandhinagar. Significantly, Hon. Jason Kenney, Canada’s Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multiculturalism will also be participating in both the PBD-India convention and the Vibrant Gujarat Summit to support the Canadian delegation. 

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) is an organizing partner at Vibrant Gujarat 2013 Summit and Canada is a partner country. ICCC is organizing Canada-Gujarat Trade & Investment seminar that will discuss the modalities of enhancing economic and commercial relations between the province of Gujarat and Canada. The Chamber has also organized three roundtables in India as part of its project Future agenda for Canada-India Partnership: Unlocking its full potential.

ICCC President Naval Bajaj is one of the key speakers at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in Kochi. He will be participating in the Plenary Session – III on Engaging Young Overseas Indian. The other eminent speakers at this session include K. C. Venugopal, Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Government  of India; Madhu Yaskhi Goud, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha; Mookhesswur Choonee, Minister for Arts and Culture, Republic of  Mauritius; T. P. Sreenivasan, Former Ambassador of India and Governor of the IAEA, Executive Vice-Chairman, Kerala State Higher Education Council, Member, National Security  Advisory Board and  Director General, Kerala International Center; Dr. Ruby Dhalla, Former Member of Parliament, Canada; Dr. Vidya Rajiv Yeravdekar, Principal  Director, Symbiosis and Executive Director, Center for  International Education, Symbiosis International University, Pune . Hon. Salman Khurshid, Minister for External Affairs, Government of India will be presiding over the session and Dr. G. Mohan Gopal, Director, Rajiv Gandhi Institute for Contemporary Studies, Gurgaon, will moderate the session. Hon. Ajay Maken, Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation, Government  of India, will be delivering the keynote address.