New Delhi, November 14: India and Canada have expressed their strong commitment to take forward negotiations for early conclusion of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, CEPA.
The Indian Delegation was led by Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu while the Canadian side was headed by the Minister for International Trade, François-Philippe Champagne. Both sides also noted the exchange of wish lists on the services front and the Indian side reiterated that the architecture for Services under CEPA is a vital focus area and response from Canada on positive elements has to be mutually beneficial.
The talks were held in a friendly and encouraging atmosphere covering a host of trade and investment issues.The Canadian side assured that they would look into the issues concerned, including movement of natural persons and what kind of provisions could be built into the CEPA.
The Ministers directed the Chief Negotiators to discuss and explore ways for early conclusion of the Agreement. Both sides also took note of the progress made under the Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) and expressed their hope for an early conclusion.
Also, both sides deliberated on possible cooperation between the supporting agencies concerned, for mutual benefit as well as finding these agencies contributing directly or indirectly for promoting mutual trade interests.
It was agreed to explore collaboration in the area of export credit insurance through India’s Export Credit Guarantee Corporation Ltd. (ECGC Ltd.) and Canada’s Export Development Canada (EDC). Both ECGC Ltd. and EDC are members of the Berne Union (BU), an international association representing the global export credit and investment insurance industry. Canada also proposed for possible cooperation with their Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC).