Lauding the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce for leading the first-ever business delegation to Tamil Nadu, Governor K Rosaiah said the exercise would enable both the countries to explore and harness economic opportunities and strengthen bilateral trade and commerce.

He was speaking at the Canada-Tamil Nadu Bilateral Trade and Investment Summit here on Sunday.

Inaugurating the summit, the Governor said Indo-Canadian relations, which dated back to several years, were built on mutual commitment to democracy. The Indo-Canadian bilateral relationship had become closer with the celebration of 2011 as ‘New year of India in Canada’.

He praised the role played by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce in developing a programme for the delegation, facilitating meetings with the representatives of India’s largest and most influential trade bodies such as Confederation of India Industry, India-Canada Business Chamber, Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries and World Trade Centre.

Pointing to the 300 MoU’s signed for collaboration on joint research programmes and exchanges in the field of higher education, Rosaiah said the Canadian companies had also come forward to contribute to India’s energy and resource security.

Earlier, N K Ranganath, former chairman, CII, said the objective of the summit was to explore new investment opportunities, develop linkages with Indian business leaders and explore avenues for joint ventures and joint research and development of new technologies for the future. “In fact, this Canadian delegation is visiting our state after 37 years. Hence, we should capitalize and utilize this opportunity for a major tie-up with Canadian partners.”

The focus of the delegation was on agriculture, especially food processing and cold chain management, food retail, automotive, renewable energy, education, information technology and tourism, he added. The dignitaries included Naval Bajaj, president, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, C K Gariyali, IAS (retd), summit coordinator, ICCC, Tamil Nadu, and Abu Becker, Business Development, ICCC, Canada.