Canada could serve as gateway for Indian companies to do business in the United States.
A business conference was held in Toronto recently to impress upon Indian businessmen that they can and should take advantage of the vast US market through Canada.
The meeting was hosted by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce at Toronto Sheraton Hotel for the visiting Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and industry and India-Canada Business Council. It was 'Destination Canada/Ontario: Canada as a gateway to North America.'
The keynote speaker on the subject was Canada's former industry minister Sinclair Stevens -- who's now chair of the Royal Commonwealth Foundation. The society has a program called 'Commonwealth Advantage.'
Stevens said he told the visiting Indian businessmen: "Canada offers a big advantage if you want to come in to Canada, not just to serve Canada but the entire North American market. In the 1980s, when I was minister for industry, we were able to attract companies like Honda, Toyota, Hyundai, etc from Asia. Their plan in Canada was to serve Canada and the US. As a result Honda now has a plant in Allston which is regarded as one of the best in the world."
Canada's trade balance with the United States is $40 billion surplus.
"In the car-related trade, we were able to demonstrate to those Asian companies that through Canada you have a big advantage and I spelt out the advantages as low Canadian dollar, a pre-paid
ICCC president Pradeep Sood said: "We were able to impress upon the Indian businessmen that Canada is the gateway to North America."
"Canada offers certain subtle benefits. It will help settling down here (in Canada) for doing business with the US, rather than going directly to the US," he said.
"You can reach 40 per cent of the Untied States the same day from Canada," said Stinder Lal, former Ontario deputy minister, who's now a business consultant and member of ICCC's advisory committee.
"Canada is a good launching pad for doing business in the US," he said. "There are at least two very important advantages: one, a low dollar, as Stevens said, and two, a free trade agreement that allows easy trade."
The message also was that 40 per cent of the US is within a day's reach from Canada. "So the whole idea was to exchange information to see where opportunities lie, and what could be done by working together," Lal said.
"There's no question that trade between Canada and India has to grow much, much faster than it's growing today," he added.
