India and Canada ink three agreements to enhance business and cultural ties

Three agreements were signed between India and Canada on Monday during the state visit of Canada's Governor General David Johnston.

The first agreement is the India-Canada Audio-Visual Co-production pact, which was signed by Information and Broadcasting Secretary Bimal Julka and Canada's High Commissioner to India Stewart Beck.

This agreement between the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Heritage Canada would open doors for wide ranging audio-visual collaborations between our two countries. Notably, this co-production pact will receive national treatment in both India and Canada.

The second agreement is one on collaboration between the Department of Biotechnology and Grand Challenges Canada to address health and development needs in both countries. It was signed by Dr. T.S. Rao, Senior Advisor to Department of Biotechnology and Peter Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada.

The third was a MoU between the National Skill Development Corporation [NSDC] and Association of Canadian Community Colleges [ACCC] which was signed by Dilip Chenoy, MD and CEO, National Skill Development Corporation and Denise Amyot, President and CEO, Association of Canadian Community Colleges.

This MoU will facilitate exchange and learning between NSDC and ACCC in best practices in training, transnational standards, and certification, which will go a long way in creating a workforce that, can serve global needs.

David Johnston and his wife Sharon Johnston are on a nine-day state visit to India, which will be getting over on March 2.

The accompanying parliamentarians and Canadian public and private sector leaders have been enhancing business, academic, cultural and people-to-people ties with their Indian counterparts.

These exchanges will further develop the wide-ranging and multi-faceted relationship with India, a major economic player and priority market for Canada, and will provide greater impetus to bilateral initiatives in various sectors, particularly in strategies promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and education.