India has rapidly become one of Saskatchewan's major trading partners, and Premier Brad Wall is cultivating that growing relationship in a visit to the country next month.
The premier shared details of his November 15-23 India trade mission in a meeting at the Legislature with representatives of the province's Indo-Canadian community. The mission, Wall's second to India, will promote Saskatchewan's strengths in energy, agri-food and innovation as well as profile business opportunities in the province for Indian investors.
India is Saskatchewan's second largest source for immigrants, just behind the Philippines, with 10 per cent of all permanent residents coming to Saskatchewan from India between 2007 and 2013 (5,179 persons).
"Saskatchewan led the nation in exports to India in 2013 -- $1 billion worth of products," Wall said. "But we can build on that base even further, with our demonstrated strengths in the food, fuel and fertilizer that expanding economies like India need."
The premier has business and investment meetings scheduled in Mumbai and New Delhi as well as in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat, and Chandigarh, the capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. He also plans to meet with elected leaders at the national and state levels, as well as with representatives of India's Atomic Energy Commission and the India Pulses and Grains Association.
Wall will deliver keynote addresses at a Canada-India Business Council Reception in Mumbai and a luncheon of Gujarati investors in Ahmedabad. Other speaking engagements include remarks at the opening ceremony of a premiere business fair, Agro Tech 2014 in Chandigarh, and an address on the importance of potash to a meeting of 400 farmers in Muzaffarnagar, a major agricultural centre in the state of Uttar Pradesh.
"It is great to see the increasing importance given by the provincial government and Saskatchewan companies to trade relations with India," India-Canada Cultural Association President Sunil Sohani said. "Trade missions such as the one Premier Wall is embarking on not only help business and investment opportunities, they also strengthen the ties of friendship between Saskatchewan and India. We look forward to a positive outcome from this visit."
"I have a number of messages that I will be delivering while in India," Wall said. "Saskatchewan can be an important partner as India achieves food self-sufficiency and improves the productivity of its crops, we can support the country's ambitious nuclear energy program, and we can help it 'green' its coal industry through our world-leading expertise in carbon capture and storage.
"We've set an ambitious goal in our Saskatchewan Plan for Growth of doubling the value of our total exports by 2020, and, indeed, our Saskatchewan-Asia Advisory Council has called for a tripling of Asian exports by that year. India will be an important partner in keeping our Saskatchewan economy strong."
Saskatchewan's exports to India were $999 million in 2013, an increase of 69 per cent since 2007. Saskatchewan's imports from India were $40 million in 2013, an increase of 244 per cent since 2007.
