Speaker / Gateway

Diedrah Kelly, Consul General Of Canada In Mumbai, On Canada-India Trade Relations

• It’s been nine months in India, and it’s been pleasant. We have gone out to explore different regions in and outside Mumbai.
• The focus of my office is to strengthen the relationship between India and Canada. Specifically, we are responsible for building relations in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
• Today (October 11th) is the International Day of the Girl Child. At the Consulate General office, we made an inspirational young lady Consul General for a day. I abdicated my responsibility for a day and made her the boss. She is 16, from the Sahar region, and is a wrestler. Every day, she does farming in the morning, then training, then walks 4 kms to school, does more training after school, and finally arrives home at night. Her dedication is an inspiration, and we are happy to host her.
• We are trying to eliminate discrimination by improving inclusivity. Commercially, India is a vital partner for Canada and trade relations have been growing for 10 years. This growth is a result of Canadian companies building their presence in India, active and growing. We have about 45 active companies in Maharashtra itself.
• Canadian companies are pretty active in the automotive and infrastructural space. Canadian companies don’t take risks as such, so when they see institutional capacity in India, it acts as a boost for them. Canada is well-positioned to contribute to the EV sector in India. We are leaders in this area and have the capacity to deliver to the supply chain in the automotive sector from batteries to recycling etc.
• Clean technology is another space we are active in. Canada is a strong innovator in producing clean technology and climate solutions. We are providing solutions for climate change, renewable energy, energy storage and waste value. We are getting a good response from Gujarat water recycling. We have a company named Clear Water which provides sanitation and wastewater treatment to 50000 households.
• Education is again another huge area for collaboration.
• We are seeing considerably longer timelines for Visa in all categories. We are starting to see gradual changes. We are aware of the challenges and we are working on it.

ROTARIANS ASK

I heard Microsoft built a centre in Vancouver as they couldn’t get Visa. Is that a big tech city in Canada that could encourage the Indian companies to set up there?
There are a number of cities across Canada that have a booming tech sector. There are universities specialised in AI and programming and quantum computing contributing to R&D. So, Vancouver is certainly one but there are many more like Montreal, Toronto etc.