Business Leaders Welcome Canada-India Investment Agreement, Discuss Next Steps in Building Stronger Bilateral Ties

June 18, 2007

Business leaders from Canada and India today congratulated their respective governments on reaching a Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (FIPA), a major step forward in promoting stronger trade and investment ties between the two countries.

“This agreement provides a solid platform on which to build a closer and more productive partnership between Canada and India,” said Thomas d’Aquino, Chief Executive and President of the Canadian Council of Chief Executives (CCCE).  He was speaking in advance of the second Canada-India CEO Roundtable, which takes place later today in Montreal.

Organized by the CCCE and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Roundtable brings together business leaders from the two countries to discuss ways to build a more robust bilateral commercial relationship.  The first Canada-India CEO Roundtable was held in Delhi in March 2007, during a CCCE-led mission of Canadian business leaders to India.

Among the recommendations emerging from the first Roundtable was a commitment on the part of business leaders from India and Canada to work toward a comprehensive India-Canada framework agreement that effectively addresses the trade and investment barriers faced by companies from both countries.  Such a framework would provide for: liberalization of trade in goods and services; liberalization of market access in services; greater protection of intellectual property rights; greater regulatory cooperation and more exchanges in key areas in the field of science and technology.

Speaking in Montreal, Tarun Das, Chief Mentor of the CII, said that the Canada-India FIPA represents a significant step on the road to such a framework agreement.  FIPAs are bilateral agreements that are intended to encourage two-way investment and trade by providing businesses from each country with the protection and predictability they need when investing in the other’s market.

Canada’s Minister of International Trade, the Honourable David Emerson, announced the conclusion of negotiations on the Canada-India FIPA on June 16, 2007, following a meeting in Toronto with his Indian counterpart, the Honourable Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry.  The two ministers will be in Montreal today, together with Quebec Premier Jean Charest, to meet with participants in the second Canada-India CEO Roundtable.

The CCCE, founded in 1976, is Canada’s private sector leader in the promotion of international trade and investment liberalization.  The CCCE is composed of 150 chief executive officers of major enterprises and leading entrepreneurs.  Member companies collectively administer $3.2 trillion in assets, have annual revenues of more than $750 billion and account for a significant majority of Canada’s private sector investment, exports, training and research and development.

In addition to Mr. d’Aquino, the members of the CCCE’s Executive Committee are:  Chair, Gordon M. Nixon, President and Chief Executive Officer, Royal Bank of Canada; Honorary Chair Richard L. George, President and Chief Executive Officer of Suncor Energy Inc.; and Vice Chairs Dominic D’Alessandro, Paul Desmarais, Jr., Jacques Lamarre, Hartley T. Richardson and Annette Verschuren, the chief executives respectively of Manulife Financial, Power Corporation of Canada, SNC-Lavalin Group Inc., James Richardson & Sons, Limited and The Home Depot Canada.