1.  A FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries - http://www.ficci.com/ ) delegation comprising of senior officials and business representatives is visiting Ottawa among other cities in Canada, to identify business opportunities for cooperation in development of infrastructure and smart cities in India.

2.  The delegation is led by Dr. Prem S. Meena, Additional Chief Secretary of Government of Maharashtra, one of the most industrialized states in India. Today, the delegation is meeting with Mayor of Ottawa, Hon’ble Jim Watson, and holding discussions with a number of infrastructure companies, as well as, educational institutions, besides undertaking site visits.

3.  Yesterday, the delegation visited the High Commission of India for an interaction with High Commissioner Vishnu Prakash and other senior officials. High Commissioner Prakash apprised them of the strong interest among Canadian companies to engage with India, especially after the highly successful visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Canada in April. He identified areas like energy, minerals, agriculture, pharmaceuticals, IT and hi-tech, engineering (water, waste and environment management), town planning and infrastructure amongst others, which offer promising opportunities of fruitful collaboration. He noted that the Canadian Pension Funds with close to $ 800 billion under management, are actively looking at investment opportunities in India, especially in the infrastructure sector.

4.  A brief Reception was held in honour of visiting delegation.

Ottawa

17 September 2015