Canadian Federal Minister of International Trade Edward Fast today assured the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal of resolving all the pending bilateral issues of trade, commerce and agriculture related to the state of Punjab on the top priority and suggested an inbuilt mechanism to be mutually developed by both the partners to put these proposals/projects in the fast mode of implementation.A high level Canadian delegation led by Mr. Edward Fast today called on the Chief Minister here at his residence this morning and apprised him about cordial ties between Punjabis and Canadians since long time besides enormous contribution of Punjabi immigrants in the overall socio-economic development of Canada.
Taking part in the deliberations, Mr. Fast promised the Chief Minister to resolve the issue for setting up proposed Food Development Center (FDC) in Punjab at the earliest on the lines of one set up in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the spirit of MoU already signed between the Province of Manitoba Canada and Punjab government during June, 2009. He also evinced keen interest in collaborating with Punjab for the cultivation and promotion of Canola, in which Canada had an enviable position in the world market. Mr. Fast also mentioned to collaborate with the Punjab government for the production of Canola oil which was emerging as the best cooking oil in the international market as India was now hugely exporting it from Canada to meet its domestic demand.
Likewise, the Canadian Federal Minister also showed keen interest in providing technical know-how in the field of solar energy, power generation from biomass and dairying. Sharing the Canadian experience and advancement in the field of swine and bovine genetics, Mr. Fast assured the Chief Minister that both Canada and Punjab could play a pivotal role in improving the breed of milch cattle besides strengthening the dairy sector through value addition by converting milk into new high value dairy products. He also put forth a proposal to initiate a skill development training program for the youth by forging collaboration with the technical institutes in Punjab as per the requirement of the manpower in different sectors especially industry, hospitality and paramedics. He also appreciated that the best Canadian universities were efficiently manned by the academicians from Punjab and hoped to mutually explore several opportunities to further raise the standard of education through teacher students exchanged programs.Agreeing to the proposal of Chief Minister, Mr. Fast said that these meetings should not be merely a formality rather these must be result-oriented and the deliberations held during these meetings on various aspects and proposals be meticulously followed up in order to crystallize the exchange of ideas between the partners into actions.
Earlier, the Chief Minister called upon the Canadian delegation to forge collaboration between Punjab Agricultural University and their premier agriculture university or an institute of excellence in developing climate resilient varieties of wheat, canola and chickpea, enhancing shelf life of vegetables, developing disease resistant and high protein and iron content wheat, precision agriculture for efficient use of inputs. He also told the Canadian Minister that Punjab was making strenuous efforts to bring persification of agriculture through developing its dairying and allied farming sectors. He sought Canada’s technical know-how in giving the much needed push to the animal husbandry sector thereby developing hi-tech dairy farming, transfer of sexed semen and embryo transfer technology.
Likewise, Mr. Badal also impressed upon the visiting delegation to seek technical collaboration for an efficient utilization of abundant stock of biomass (paddy straw) for the generation of power besides exchange of technical knowledge for adoption of the best practices in power generation transmission and distribution. He also sought cooperation from Canadian government for sharing their best practices to provide basic civic amenities and services to the urban population and requisitioned the services of technical experts providing such services. He also envisioned whole hearted support and cooperation for establishing skill development centers in Punjab besides giving mutual recognition to the educational qualifications and skill certification courses and relaxing visa norms for skilled manpower. He also urged the Canadian delegation to establish their education and healthcare institutions of international repute in the upcoming Educity and Medicity in new Chandigarh.
Meanwhile, the Food Processing Minister Mr. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon also sought technical collaboration from the Canadian delegation in the food handling management, developing green house technology for cultivation of vegetables and establishing cold chains to prolong the shelf life of vegetables.The Chief Minister was accompanied by his team of senior bureaucrats, who put forth their vital inputs in the meeting to further strengthen the bilateral ties between Punjab and Canada especially in the field of agriculture, agro-processing, dairy, solar energy and food grain handling capacity.
Prominent amongst others who participated in the discussions included Financial Commissioner Development Mr. Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. SK Sandhu, Principal Secretary Animal Husbandry Mr. G.Vajralingam, Principal Secretary Higher Education Mr. Roshan Sunkaria, Secretary Local Govt. Mr. Ashok Gupta, Secretary Power Mr. Anirudh Tiwari, Secretary Food Processing Mr. SR Ladar, Secretary Information Technology Mr. Rakesh Verma and Special Principal Secretary to CM Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar,
The other members of the Canadian delegation comprised Minister for National Revenue Ms. Kerry Lynne, Parliaentary Secretary to the Minister of Justice Mr. Bob Dechert, Designate High Commissioner for Canada Mr. Nadir Patel, Director Operations and Special Projects Ms. Jackson and Consul General Ms.Rajni Alexander.