Toronto-Pune sister city relationship mooted

Canada's biggest city Toronto may soon have a sister-city relationship with the city of Pune in India's Maharashtra state.

This idea was mooted at the Diwali celebrations by Toronto Mayor John Tory jointly with the Canada-India Foundation at the city hall here on Wednesday.

The mayor said he was looking forward to his next visit to India and would welcome the idea of developing sister-city relationship with the Indian city.

"Pune and Toronto should be sister cities because they have a lot in common. Both are auto centres. Both are education centres and both are IT hubs. I mooted the idea with the mayor on behalf of the Canada-India Foundation and he has welcomed it," foundation chairman Ajit Someshwar said.

Mayor Tory said he was happy to host the first-ever Diwali at the city hall.

"It is my great pleasure to host all of you here at Toronto's city hall. This is one of the city's first Diwali celebrations here."

He lauded the Canada-India Foundation for championing the free trade agreement, adding that he would like his city to have a "stronger profile in India to entice businesses to come to Toronto and use it as a base for their larger North American efforts."

"The Canada-India Foundation was committed to working with Canadian leaders in its mission of strengthening ties and promoting Indo-Canadians in the public policy and decision-making space," Someshwar added.