Toronto: India and Canada will hold their inaugural Finance Ministers’ Economic and Financial Dialogue in Toronto later this month, Ottawa announced on Friday.
The Dialogue will be held as Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman makes her first visit to Canada since she assumed charge of that portfolio.
In a statement issued on Friday, Canada’s Department of Finance said that in “a rapidly changing world, Canada is focused on what we can control. We are building our economic strength at home and diversifying our partnerships abroad”. To “advance these efforts”, it said, Canada’s Minister of Finance and National Revenue François-Philippe Champagne, will host his Indian counterpart, the Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, in the country on August 26 and 27.
Sitharaman is expected to arrive in Toronto, the country’s financial capital, on Tuesday.
“As the world’s fastest-growing major economy, India presents extraordinary opportunities,” the release said, adding that with a population of 1.4 billion, India’s energy demand is increasing faster than anywhere else in the world. “Its economy is scaling in the very areas that define Canada’s strengths: energy, agriculture, critical minerals, artificial intelligence, and advanced manufacturing,” it noted.
This meeting will “provide an opportunity for both Ministers to strengthen economic and financial cooperation between Canada and India, discuss shared priorities for promoting sustainable economic growth and investment, and exchange views on global economic developments”, it added. The discussions will also focus on strengthening cooperation “in support of prosperity, resilience, and long-term economic opportunity for both countries”.
{{/usCountry}}This meeting will “provide an opportunity for both Ministers to strengthen economic and financial cooperation between Canada and India, discuss shared priorities for promoting sustainable economic growth and investment, and exchange views on global economic developments”, it added. The discussions will also focus on strengthening cooperation “in support of prosperity, resilience, and long-term economic opportunity for both countries”.
{{/usCountry}}In 2024, total direct and indirect Canadian investment in India surpassed CA$ 110 billion. “As both countries embark on parallel missions to build and transform our respective economies and diversify key supply chains, we are forging ahead in this partnership to leverage each other’s strengths and ambition,” the Department said.
The two finance ministers will also engage in a discussion being hosted by the Canadian Club Toronto, with the theme, Canada and India: Advancing Shared Economic Interests. The discussion will look at the “opportunity to deepen investment, strengthen trade and build new partnerships across key sectors” and “explore where the greatest opportunities lie, what is needed to give businesses and investors greater confidence, and how economic cooperation can help reinvigorate the broader bilateral relationship”.
India will be a participant at the Canada Investment Summit being hosted by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Toronto next month.
“These visits matter: they build real momentum in the corridor, lay the groundwork for a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, and set the table for a bilateral visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi later this year, something we haven’t seen in over a decade. Canadian business leaders will have the opportunity to engage with India’s Finance Minister at exactly the right moment,” Victor Thomas, president and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council pointed out.
Vina Nadjibula, co-founder and CEO of the Centre for Strategic Statecraft, said, “What we are seeing is steady accumulation of progress.” She pointed to the bilateral when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney visited New Delhi in March. He and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “summit established an ambitious agenda; the trade mission and sectoral dialogues are beginning to implement it; CEPA (comprehensive economic partnership agreement) negotiations are advancing; and now finance cooperation is being added to the architecture,” she added.
She stressed, “The important thing now is to keep turning political momentum into concrete economic deliverables.”