Toronto, April 15 – Prime Minister Narendra Modi will arrive in Canada today for a three-day visit aiming to secure a deal for import of uranium, invite investments and improving visa facilities for Indo-Canadians.
On the third and final leg of his three-nation tour that also took him to France and Germany, Modi will travel to Canada, marking the first standalone visit to the country by an Indian prime minister in over 42 years.
Modi will hold talks with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on a wide range of issues, including nuclear energy, trade and investment. India sees Canada as an important partner in fulfilling its developmental needs and expects the visit to impart new vigour in bilateral relations.
Modi will also address the Indian diaspora in a “Madison Square-like” event here. He will also visit a memorial set up for the 1985 Kanishka air crash victims in Toronto as also Laxmi Narayan Temple in Vancouver. Canada’s Cameco Corp, one of the world’s biggest uranium producers, has been holding talks with Indian government officials for a long term supply arrangement.
Modi’s visit will be the first to Canada by an Indian prime minister since Indira Gandhi stopped by in 1973 when Pierre Trudeau was Canada’s prime minister. The visit is being portrayed by Harper’s office as a chance to broaden trade involving education, energy and science and technology.
India is confident that the proposed Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) between India and Canada will be signed soon, as authorities on both sides have stepped up efforts for the agreement that has been in limbo since 2007, official sources said.
India’s concerns have been over certain provisions of the negotiated pact, which allow a foreign investor to sue the host country at an international dispute settlement agency bypassing the domestic legal system. The Indo-Canadian community has urged Prime Minister Modi to provide electronic travel visa facilities to Canadians.
An Electronic Travel Authority (ETA) will help Canadians to travel to India for tourism or business for stays of 90 days or less with an electronic Indian visa without having to submit the original passport and visa application. Citizens of 42 countries have this facility now.
After official meetings in Ottawa, Modi?will deliver a speech at the Ricoh Coliseum in Toronto on Wednesday. He will end the trip with a state dinner with Harper in Vancouver and visit Sikh and Hindu temples in Vancouver and Surrey.
-INDIA TODAY
