Punjab, Oct. 5 -- India and Canada began the fifth round of talks on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement in Ottawa today, running to 9 October. Both sides want it signed by year-end, and the target is to take trade from $30 billion to $70 billion in five years.
What Canada is offering
Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu has put energy, critical minerals and aerospace at the front of the pitch, alongside investment and research.
The energy argument is specific. India's energy requirement is projected to rise about 70% by 2035, and Canada has pointed to the $33 billion LNG Canada Phase 2 project as what it can supply into that.
Critical minerals is the more strategically interesting half. India has almost no domestic supply of the li...