Consul General wants Mangaloreans to Do Business with Canada
In 1968 Hamilton residents from Mangaluru approached the then-mayor Vic Copps and a twinning program was initiated. Linkages took place not only at the municipal government level but also at the citizen level. Mundialization fosters people-to-people linkages and friendships, to further peace, justice and understanding. The State Bank Circle in Mangaluru is called the Hamilton Circle owing to this twinning program. In fact, the first City Traffic Lights at Hampankatta in the heart of the City of Mangalore were donated by the City of Hamilton thanks to the efforts of a Professor of Maths teaching at the McMasters University in Hamilton.
Mangaluru: On the outset, I want to compliment Ms Jennifer Daubeny- Consul General for South India, Consulate General of Canada, Bengaluru; and Stanly Gomes- Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner (South India), Consulate General of Canada, for hailing from a Clean and Beautiful Country-‘Canada’. Being in the USA for 23 years, I had visited Canada five times (cities like Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec, Toronto ..and also Niagara Falls on the Canadian side), and I found Canada to be very beautiful, clean, vast infrastructure, very scenic, people well dressed and friendly..and much more. Canada, indeed a tourist paradise- a destination that can match any in the world!
Kanara Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Mangaluru had organized an interactive meeting with Ms Jennifer Daubeny- Consul General for South India, Consulate General of Canada, Bengaluru; and Stanly Gomes- Consul and Senior Trade Commissioner (South India), Consulate General of Canada, on Wednesday, 8 March at KCCI Meeting hall. Welcoming the gathering, Jeevan Saldanha- President of KCCI said, ” Mangalore has a special relationship with Canada. Many Mangaloreans have immigrated to Canada and many have studied or are currently doing their education in Canadian Universities. In fact, Mundialization is an old municipal peace activity. It is an act whereby a city council declares its city to be a “world city,” interdependent with other communities worldwide. To involve the Canadian City of Hamiltons citizens of different cultures, especially those from the countries of its immigrant communities, to share in multicultural programs the Twinning programs were initiated by Hamilton City. Ten International cities had tie-ups with Hamilton.”
“In 1968 Hamilton residents from Mangaluru approached the then-mayor Vic Copps and a twinning program was initiated. Linkages took place not only at the municipal government level but also at the citizen level. Mundialization fosters people-to-people linkages and friendships, to further peace, justice and understanding. The State Bank Circle in Mangaluru is called the Hamilton Circle owing to this twinning program. In fact, the first City Traffic Lights at Hampankatta in the heart of the City of Mangalore were donated by the City of Hamilton thanks to the efforts of a Professor of Maths teaching at the McMasters University in Hamilton. Mangaluru also had the India- Canada institutional interaction Cell at the Karnataka Polytechnic and Mr Stanley Gomes, Counsel and Senior Trade Representative and myself had Visited this institution apart from the Women’s Polytechnic and the Govt. ITI to see the possibility of co-operation in the field of Skill Development.” added Saldanha.
Addressing the audience, Ms Jennifer said, “When a country has as much to offer as Canada, it is easy to see why hundreds of foreign investors have set up plants and operations in Canada. The Government of Canada is committed to creating the most favourable conditions for Canadian businesses to compete internationally. Free trade agreements (FTAs) and foreign investment promotion and protection agreements (FIPAs) between Canada and our trading partners are creating new opportunities for Canadian businesses. Canada has many different types of agreements and initiatives with foreign countries. Canada is the best country for business in the G-20 according to Forbes Magazine’s November 2012 study. It remains one of the most welcoming and profitable places in the world for international business and foreign direct investment.”
“Among the competitive advantages you can enjoy doing business in Canada, is Canada’s stability – Canada has “banks you can bank on”. For the fifth consecutive year, the World Economic Forum rates Canada’s banking system as the world’s soundest; Canada’s highly-skilled workforce – Canada has the most highly-educated population in the OECD and “attracts the best and brightest from every corner of the globe; Canada’s industry strengths – “Cutting-edge American producers recognize Canadian leadership in industries such as fibre optics, aerospace, and bio-pharmaceuticals.” The country is also a world leader in fields as diverse as medical devices, digital gaming, and agri-food. Canada’s strategic location – Canada is the “crossroads between the North American marketplace and the booming economies of Asia; Canada’s lifestyle advantage – Clean, calm and spectacular sums it up. It’s a stellar place to work, live and raise a family” said Ms Jennifer.
“And to top off the list of advantages to doing business in Canada, Canada offers businesses very favourable R&D tax credits and incentives. Canada’s appealing environment for leading-edge research is built upon several innovation-supporting policies: effective protection of intellectual property rights; open competition in a domestic market in the deployment of digital information and communications technologies and platforms; transparent government procurement practices, and openness to high-skill immigration (government of Canada). Perhaps one of the best reasons to consider doing business in Canada, though, is that Canada welcomes business investment.” added Ms Jennifer.
She further said, ” Over 50,000 students from India are enrolled in various universities in Canada for Certificate and PG courses, and the number is growing year after year since the education in Canada is very affordable when compared to the USA. Presently there are many Canadian educational institutions offices that are set up in India. Recently Manipal University had signed several MoU’s with Canadian educational institutions. After Chinese, Indians are the second largest immigrants that enter Canada, including many IT techs and their families. Canada PM will be visiting India sometime this year, after being invited by PM Modi when he visited Canada in 2015.”
Stanly Gomes through a power-point presentation briefed the audience on the geography of Canada, and India- Canada Trade. It should be noted that Canada and India enjoy a prosperous trading relationship. India celebrated the year 2012 as the year of India in Canada to promote business, cultural and political relations with India. Despite the warm relationship, trade between Canada and India is less than their potential. India accounts for less than 1% of Canada’s total export and total import in 2014, with bilateral trade of C$5.77 billion in 2014 (compared to more than C$56 billion bilateral trade between China and Canada). Nevertheless, total trade between the two countries has grown steadily over the past 5 years. Canada and India are currently holding negotiations on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) or Free Trade Agreement in order to improve the trade relations between the two countries. The two countries held their 9th round of negotiations in New Delhi.
Major Items of Indian Exports include Medicines, Garments, diamonds, chemicals, gems and jewellery, petroleum oils, seafood, engineering goods, marble and granite, rice and electric equipment. Major items of Canada’s export to India are Pulses, fertilizers, air crafts and aviation equipment, diamonds, minerals, lumber & ferrous waste, etc. In fact, Bombardier has contracted to supply aircraft to Spice Jet and has supplied Metro Cars to Delhi Metro apart from putting up a unit to make Railway equipment for Mumbai Railway Vikas Corp (MRVC).
India today is a market in full bloom. It offers excellent opportunities, particularly in construction, architecture, design, engineering and telecommunications. Indian investment in Canada has increased steadily in the recent years, especially in the information technology and software sectors. Indian companies with substantial operations in Canada include the Tatas, Aditya Birla Group, Hindalco, Essar, Patni Computer Systems, Satyam Computer Services, WIPRO and Infosys.
There was an interaction with the audience, where the queries were answered by Ms Jennifer and Stanly. Ms Vathika Pai- Vice President of KCCI introduced the Canadian guests to the audience, while Praveen Kumar Kalbhavi proposed the vote of thanks.