Piyush Goyal meets Canadian pension funds, investors in push for $50 bn trade

New Delhi: Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal met Canada's leading pension funds, sovereign and institutional investors, and other stakeholders to partner with India in areas such as clean energy, technology, digital infrastructure, artificial intelligence (AI) and manufacturing during his ongoing three-day official visit to the country.

He held one-to-one meetings with leading Canadian companies across sectors including insurance, food processing, banking and critical minerals processing, as well as key financial investors, commerce and industry ministry said in a statement.

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"Delighted to co-chair the 'Canada-India Investment Roundtable' alongside Mr. @MSidhuLiberal, Minister of International Trade of Canada. Held extensive discussions with Canada's leading pension funds, sovereign and institutional investors, members of the Canada-India Business Council and other stakeholders," Goyal said in a social media post.

During the meeting, he highlighted India's focus on infrastructure, financial sector reforms and ease of doing business to create opportunities for global investors.

As per the statement, Sidhu expressed his commitment to building closer bilateral ties, appreciated the presence of the largest-ever Indian business delegation to Canada and announced a Team Canada Trade Mission to India later this year in November.

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"The proposed mission aims to bring Canadian companies to India to explore opportunities for collaboration across sectors," the ministry said, adding that both sides reaffirmed their shared objective of expanding bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030 and concluding the negotiations for a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement by the end of the year.

Goyal met V Prem Watsa, chairman and CEO of Fairfax Financial Holdings; Philip Witherington, CEO of Manulife Financial Corp; Kevin Strain, CEO of Sun Life Canada; Raymond Chun, CEO of Toronto Dominion Bank Group; and Max Koeune, CEO of McCain Foods, among others.