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His Excellency Stewart Beck, the High Commissioner of Canada to India, hosted a reception for the delegates of India Mission 2014 on January 7 evening at his official residence. A number of dignitaries, including the diplomatic corps from the Canadian High Commission, ministers from the Canadian federal government, Senators and Members of Parliament attended the reception.
Speaking on the occasion, the High Commissioner lauded the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s (ICCC) efforts to foster the trade between Canada and India. He emphasized on the qualitative change that had occurred in the orientation of the Chamber’s focus in recent years. This change, he asserted, was helping trade promotion between Canada and India. He also made a special mention of the proactive role the Chamber is playing in promoting brand Canada in India.
The High Commissioner also emphasized the new and emerging dimensions to the Canada-India trade. While earlier Canada focussed on the small projects, the recent trend has been to look keenly at mega projects including in the oil and gas sector.
Naval Bajaj, President of ICCC, lauded the High Commissioner for his proactive role in promoting bilateral relations. Speaking about the status of the bilateral ties, Bajaj said, “The relations between Canada and India have moved to an altogether different level of cooperation during the last couple of years. The developments of the last five years have been nothing short of epochal in the history of bilateral relations between our two democracies. Our Chamber has played a pivotal role in creating opportunities to enhance economic cooperation between our two countries.”
Bajaj said in the future, the ICCC would be focussing upon researching fundamental aspects of trade, and creating opportunities for the small businesses through the centre for excellence that the Chamber was proposing to launch.
Ministers Hon. Bal Gosal and Hon. Tim Uppal also spoke highly of the role the ICCC has been playing in nurturing the trade and economic relations between the two countries. Hon. Tim Uppal read the Prime Minister’s greetings.
Prime Minister Harper's message
In his message, Prime Minister Hon. Stephen Harper, said, "Our Government has been proud to make the Canada-India relationship a priority. We value the special bond between our countries, which is strengthened by our Indian diaspora of more than one million. Dynamic business and community leaders are forging a deeper Canada-India connection with each passing year."
Lauding the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce for its role in fostering bilateral trade ties, Prime Minister Harper said, "On behalf of the Government of Canada, I commend the ICCC for leading this important initiative. I salute members of the delegation and all the government and business leaders hosting them, for your contributions to Canada-India relations."
Hon. Dr. Asha Seth, Senator, also spoke about the positive contributions made by the ICCC in reaching out to different states in India and jointly exploring economic opportunities.
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