Former union minister Suresh Prabhu has said that the government is working on an "aggressive strategy" to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into India in the aftermath of COVID-19.
Prabhu, a Rajya Sabha MP who is India's Sherpa for G20 and G7, made the remarks at the fifth Indo-Canadian Business Chamber (ICBC) hosted Webinar themed Fostering Trade Relations Post COVID-19, on Thursday.
He was accomped as lead speaker by Victor Fedeli, Canadian Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade.
An official release on Tuesday said that Prabhu referred to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the changes it would bring to global business and trade practises while outlining eight key areas of enhanced cooperation between India and Canada.
He listed out high-tech, financial services, capital investment, healthcare, manufacturing, environment, logistics and trade promotion as those that would see a major uptick between the two countries.
Referring to support and relief measures for businesses and SMEs in India, Prabhu said the Prime Minister has constituted a task force headed by the Finance Minister which is looking specifically into this. "I am sure it will be communicated to the right people soon."
Fedeli talked about various measures adopted by the Canadian Federal Government and the provincial government of Ontario to protect jobs and livelihood and hinted at a virtual platform to further foster trade between the two economies.
"We might have to do virtual trade shows as we rely so much on imports from Indian manufacturers. We are looking aggressively at a B2B bridge," Fedeli said while responding to a question.
Other attendees of the webinar included Ajay Bisaria, India's High Commissioner to Canada, Victor T Thomas, the new President and Chief Executive Officer of the Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC) in Toronto, Kashmira Mewawala, Head - Business Development and Chief Ethics Counsellor - Tata Capital, Jaimin Shah, CEO and MD of Dev Information Technology Limited and Sandeep Asthana, Country Head of Sunlife Capital.
( With inputs from ANI )