Ottawa [Canada], February 14 (ANI): Dinesh Patnaik, Indian High Commissioner to Canada on Friday expressed optimism as the negotiations for the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement are underway and said that the negotiations would start by late February to early March. He made the remarks in an interview to Canada's Financial Post.

Noting that the negotiations for the trade talks between India and Canada were launched at the sidelines of the G20 Meeting in Johannesburg, High Commissioner Patnaik said that the two countries are working on the terms of reference.

'The deal would should be not difficult at all. Both the Prime Ministers at the G20 in Johannesburg decided to launch negotiations towards a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement. Now we have been talking about a free trade agreement since the last many years and which was kept on pause because of a certain reason between our two sides, and the pause had been lifted, so Prime Minister Carney's team has given notice to Parliament, which is a notice of 90 days. So the negotiation should now start at the end of February, beginning March. Now what we are working out are the terms of reference', he told the Financial Post.

High Commissioner Patnaik highlighted the latest negotiations the two countries have signed and the change in several positions such as the rise of Indian economy and the signing of several trade agreements by Canada and India separately, which would now shape the trade talks. 'I'm confident, given the intent on both sides, that we will be able to do it very soon', he said.

When asked what the biggest component of the agreement would be, the High Commissioner listed defence, aerospace, mining and energy among the several areas where as large economies, the economic partnership between India and Canada would address all issues of all sectors to ensure streamlined working.

'Lower tariffs, lesser documentation, lesser customs documentation, less sanitary, phytosanitary problems, less non-tariff barriers, more cooperation on financial instruments, on investment, on research, innovation, on AI, on mining, on energy, on defence, on aerospace, you name it. We have all the sectors that we want to address, and all the sectors we have enough capacity to be able to work together. What we are going to address is how do we make it easy for both sides to work together, easier ease of logistics, ease of communication, ease of moving things from one point to another, ease of investments in each other's countries, ease of trade where paperwork doesn't hold you up and that non-tariff barriers don't hold you up. That is the essence of a comprehensive economic partnership agreement. It's like having a marriage where you take out all the issues that create a problem and make it easier for both sides to work together', he said.

The Ministry of External Affairs in an official brief noted how the trade and investment linkages between India and Canada form an integral component of the multi-faceted partnership between the two countries. India's exports to Canada in 2024 were worth CAD 8.02 billion and imports from Canada were CAD 5.30 billion.

He added that while the comprehensive economic partnership will be at the centre, but will not be the centrepiece as the two countries have several other areas of focus and mentioned that India and Canada are looking to start a friendship society to connect both parliaments.

'We are looking at starting the Canada India Friendship Society, both in the Canadian Parliament here as well as in the Indian Parliament. We want MPs to meet each other. We want civil society to meet each other. We want democratic institutions to meet with each other. We want all these things to happen between our two countries. They have been happening for a long time. Despite the blip of the last two years, our people-to-people relation did not suffer a bit. Trade went up. Financial institutions worked well, academic institutions worked well, universities, students, research, innovation, nothing stopped. This shows the strength of the relationship between both countries', High Commissioner Patnaik said.

In his interview he said that the current status of the ties between New Delhi and Ottawa is doing extremely well despite the blip in the last two years and expressed confidence ahead of the visit of Canadian PM Mark Carney to India. He said that the two countries have shared values across areas and that minor irritants should not affect the ties. (ANI)