British Columbia keen on partnering with Indian SMEs for trade

by Punjabnewswire4u

CHANDIGARH, OCT 4

PHD Chamber organised an interactive session today with the delegation from the British Columbia, Canada who were in Chandigarh for exploring business opportunities between British Columbia and India. The Seminar “Business Opportunities in British Columbia, Canada” was held at PHD House, where Mr R S Sachdeva, Co-Chairman, Punjab Committee of PHD Chamber delivered a welcome address focusing on British Columbia and India’s bilateral trade relationship and future prospects.

Mr Sachdeva said that,” India being one of the key markets for B.C is one of the fastest growing, 11th largest economy in the world and is predicted to quadruple by 2020. The Indian economy is fuelled by skilled labour, innovation and research capabilities, a strong services sector and steady expansion of its domestic market, there is great potential for increased bilateral trade between both the countries”.

Mr Chaitanya Patil, Director, India Trade & Investment, Business Columbia gave a presentation and discussed the profile, geography and economy of B.C and pointed out that British Columbia is Canada’s Pacific Gateway, at the crossroads between Asia and North America. “The Govt of B.C is pro-business and keen on building linkages with SMEs of this region. B.C has a skilled and inventive workforce, competitive business costs and a high quality of life. The excellent research centres, innovative culture and expeditious supply chain gives B.C a strong competitive advantages in several key industry clusters such as agriculture, food processing, education, and green technology”, added Patil.

Patil said that, “we are looking at new and emerging sectors like tourism, film, ICT, high technology and green energy etc”.

Earlier while initiating the discussion, Mr Dalip Sharma, Regional Director PHD Chamber said that India and Canada have longstanding bilateral relationship based on shared democratic values, the multi-cultural, multi ethnic and multi religious nature of two societies and strong people-to people contacts. In recent years, both countries have been working to enhance bilateral co-operation in a number of areas of mutual importance.

Mr  G S Sobti, (Trade), Canadian High Commission, Chandigarh gave an overview of Canada that offers good opportunities for investment as the country is endowed with vast natural resources. He said that both the Indian and Canadian companies could cooperate in exploring the possibility of setting up joint ventures in third countries.

The meeting provided an opportunity for fruitful business-to-business networking between the British Columbia delegation and industry representatives of the region.