India, Canada hold strategic dialogue, discuss N-cooperation

Khurshid and his Canadian counterpart John Baird chaired first round of the Strategic Dialogue yesterday

India and Canada have held crucial talks on important issues like nuclear energy cooperation during their first ever Strategic Dialogue and agreed on the need for a comprehensive bilateral trade pact.

Minister of External Affairs Salman Khurshid along with his Canadian counterpart John Baird chaired the first round of the Strategic Dialogue in Ottawa yesterday.

"The meeting underscored Canada's long-standing friendship with India, which is built on the shared values of democracy, pluralism, federalism and respect for human rights, as well as strong interpersonal connections, the result of an Indian diaspora of more than one million in Canada," a Canadian Foreign Ministry statement said.

Lauding the contributions made by Indo-Canadians, Khurshid said, "There is lot of potential for economic growth between the two countries."

"In a challenging neighbourhood with an abundance of opportunity, the importance of the Canada-India relationship is underscored in this first official visit of my counterpart in 15 years," Baird said.

"The frequent and diverse range of economic, security and global issues that Canada and India are now interacting on represents only the beginnings of the great potential of our bilateral relations," he said.

The two ministers also discussed bilateral nuclear energy cooperation during the Dialogue.

Deepak Obhrai, the Parliamentary secretary to the External Affairs Minister John Baird, Nirmal Verma, Indian High Commissioner to Canada, Akhilesh Mishra, Consulate General of India in Toronto were among those present at the meeting.

Khurshid also met the Minister of International Trade, Ed Fast.

The two ministers held a productive exchange of views on key areas of common interest for Canada and India such as food security, energy security, infrastructure, innovation, trade and investment.

Fast and Khurshid recognised that with more than one million Canadians of Indian-origin, vibrant and long-standing people-to-people ties are among the greatest strengths of the Canada-India relationship.

Canada and India are negotiating a comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) to create jobs, growth and prosperity in both countries.

Both ministers agreed that a CEPA could be a building block to expand the long-standing commercial relationship between both countries.

India and Canada had signed a civil nuclear cooperation agreement in 2010 that allowed them to initiate negotiations for supply of uranium.