In a speech to the Confederation of Indian Industry in Mumbai, India, today, the Honourable Jim Flaherty, Minister of Finance, highlighted the strengthening bonds between Canada and India and the significant contribution India can make to efforts by the G20 to ensure a sustained global recovery.
“India is a country with growing influence on the global stage,” Minister Flaherty said in prepared remarks. “You have weathered the economic storm with a resilience traditional economic powerhouses couldn’t match. India has a tremendous stake in ensuring that those countries that helped spark the crisis eliminate the policy errors that stand in the way of long-term stability. Your country’s continued leadership will be crucial to making 2010 a historic year.”
Minister Flaherty’s Indian visit occurs a month before G20 leaders meet in Toronto for a summit aimed at securing sustainable and balanced economic growth, maintaining momentum to complete financial sector reforms, strengthening international financial institutions and promoting increased trade and investment. In his address, the Minister noted the continued partnership between Canada and India in the global crisis response, which includes co-chairing the G20 Working Group on Enhancing Sound Regulation and Strengthening Transparency and the Working Group on the G20 Framework for Strong, Sustainable, and Balanced Growth.
Minister Flaherty noted that trade between Canada and India has increased by 70 per cent since 2004 and that two-way foreign direct investment reached record levels last year. These ties were illustrated in Mumbai during meetings between senior officials of major Canadian financial institutions and their Indian counterparts, who are cooperating to make inroads in India’s rapidly growing financial sector. Minister Flaherty said that India’s interest in Canadian financial institutions is a further example of the strength of Canada’s financial system, which has been repeatedly cited as a model for other countries and is considered the world’s soundest by the World Economic Forum and Moody’s Investors Service.
The Minister also highlighted Canada’s many advantages, which are creating trade and investment opportunities in Canada:
- The best fiscal performance and the strongest economic recovery in the G7, according to the International Monetary Fund.
- An overall tax rate on new business investment that is the lowest in the G7 and below the average of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
- The elimination of tariffs on manufacturing inputs and machinery and equipment, making Canada the first G20 nation to allow manufacturers to operate free of tariff costs.
During his visit, the Minister also met with Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, G20 Sherpa Montek Singh Ahluwalia and key business leaders.
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