'Significant potential' to expand Canada-India trade, says top Canadian export agency official before Carney's India trip
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "'Significant potential' to expand Canada-India trade, says top Canadian export agency official before Carney's India trip")
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Photograph: (X/MeaIndia)
Tushar Handiekar, Vice President and Global Head of Structured & Project Finance at Export Development Canada (EDC), speaking to WION, emphasised the opportunities for deeper economic ties.
Canada and India stand poised to significantly boost bilateral trade, with Canadian officials highlighting vast untapped potential in energy, infrastructure, and critical minerals, comments made ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's high-profile visit to India starting 26 February.
Tushar Handiekar, Vice President and Global Head of Structured & Project Finance at Export Development Canada (EDC), speaking to WION, emphasised the opportunities for deeper economic ties. "There's certainly a lot of potential to significantly increase bilateral trade between Canada and India," he said. "And there are multiple sectors where Canada has strengths that India needs, that Canada can certainly provide."
Handiekar pointed to energy and energy security as key areas, encompassing both traditional oil and gas and the clean energy transition. "There are technologies [and] investments that can go into India in a big way," he noted, adding that Canadian expertise in infrastructure development, building, owning, and managing large networks, could play a major role.
He described Canada as "a very stable partner for growth," extending to food security as well. On the planned Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Handiekar stressed the need to remove barriers. "It's important that when companies take a lot of effort in creating this bilateral trade... if there is friction in the pipe that creates slowness and that creates a question on how much, how big can it grow?" he said. "Through these trading agreements, as you can remove some of these barriers and make the trading easy, there's a lot of potential for it."
Trending Stories
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
)
)
&im=FitAndFill=(700,400))
)
He also highlighted Canadian pension funds' interest in India's rapid GDP growth and its ambitions to become a manufacturing hub. Canada, rich in critical minerals essential for batteries and defence production, could make "a big dent" in supplying raw materials and technology, he added.
The remarks come as Prime Minister Carney prepares to visit Mumbai and New Delhi, where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The trip, part of a broader Asia-Pacific tour including Australia and Japan, aims to diversify Canada's trade amid global shifts and repair strained relations following past diplomatic tensions. The upcoming engagement is seen as a pragmatic reset, focusing on mutual economic benefits in energy, technology, and resources.
