Canada scouting for partners in India

Canada scouting for partners in India

Indo-Asian News Service

Chennai, Feb 4 (IANS) Canada's Greater Toronto Area (GTA) will soon be the gateway for Indian companies keen to explore business opportunities in the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) region, visiting Canadian officials say.

This area of Toronto city is home to more than 345,000 people of Indian origin, or nearly 60 percent of all Indians living in Canada.

The key industry clusters in GTA are information communication technology, media and entertainment (publishing and film making), life sciences and biotechnology, financial services, call centres and automotive parts.

City officials from Toronto are now on a mission in Tamil Nadu to woo partners from the south Indian state.

Said T.T. Ashok, chairman of the Tamil Nadu chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII): "Tamil Nadu is emerging as an attractive destination for investment in the manufacturing and IT sectors.

"The inherent strengths of the state in the areas of quality education, send workforce and investor friendly policies attracts investors globally," he pointed out.

IT, biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and healthcare, education, advanced manufacturing, automobile and auto Components, business process outsourcing (BPO) and call centres are some of the potential sectors for cooperation between industries in Tamil Nadu and Canada, officials of both countries say.

The Greater Toronto Area is widely seen as a stepping-stone to the US market, serving the entire NAFTA marketplace.

"Toronto is a highly desirable offshore location, with robust infrastructure, language and cultural similarities with the US that will be very attractive for Indian companies considering going global," Hazel McCallion, mayor of Canada's Mississauga city, told a CII organised meet here Friday.

"The multilateral competency has propelled GTA as one of the most business and investment-friendly (areas) in the region," McCallion said, speaking at the seminar on "Toronto - Gateway to the NAFTA Market".

The Greater Toronto Marketing Alliance is visiting India with a 12-member exploratory business mission comprising business, academic and government officials from GTA.

It will investigate BPO and Knowledge Processing Outsourcing (KPO) phenomenon in India as well as seek alliances and investment opportunities during the visit.