Canada PM Harper to visit India

At the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper will pay an official visit to India from November 15 to 18.

Prime Minister Harper will be accompanied by Ms Laureen Harper, Foreign Minister Lawrence Cannon, Minister of International Trade Stockwell Day, and a Parliamentary delegation. During the visit, Mr Harper will call on President Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Vice President M Hamid Ansari. He will also hold discussions with Dr Singh, and meet with the External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha L K Advani. Mr Harpers discussions with the Prime Minister will include a review of the bilateral agenda, and an exchange of views on regional and global issues of common interest. India and Canada share a commonality of values, including an abiding commitment to democracy, pluralism and rule of law, the Ministry of External Affairs said here today. In recent years, the bilateral agenda has diversified to include new areas of cooperation such as science and technology, agriculture and space. Bilateral trade has been increasing steadily, reaching 4.6 billion dollars in 2008. Both the countries are negotiating the institutional framework for enhancing bilateral trade and investment, including a Bilateral Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement and a Social Security Agreement, and are presently considering the possibility of a Free Trade Agreement. The Indian origin community in Canada has strengthened people-to-people linkages between the two countries.

-- (UNI) -- 12DI49.xml

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