WE NEED TO CONCLUDE CEPA, SAYS CANADIAN MINISTER CHAMPAGNE

In New Delhi to discuss decade-long negotiations with India, Canadian Minister of International Trade, FRANÇOIS-PHILIPPE CHAMPAGNE tells Subhayan Chakraborty and Sahil Makkar that while pension funds in his country are waiting to invest more in India, they are awaiting clarity in rules of ties between the two countries. Edited excerpts:

The FIPA (Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement) was signed in 2007 but never ratified. There were some concerns on the investor-state dispute resolution mechanism from Canada’s side. In the meantime, companies such as Vodafone are embroiled in a tax dispute case with India. How are you going to proceed further and address all these concerns?

We had constructive discussions with the Finance Minister (Arun Jaitley). You know, when there’s a will, there's a way. With progressive nations like Canada and India, I think that we will able to find an agreement for a win-win situation, respecting each other’s position and also provide the certainty and predictability that investors want. Our pension funds are first class in terms of being long-term, responsible investors. They are telling me they want to do more. But in order to do that, they have to understand the rules under which we are engaging.

What about the CEPA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement) ?

I feel having a rule-based trading system is in the interests of both countries. I think there’s a recognition of the enormous opportunities we have. When you look at where we are, the base of 8 billion Canadian dollars annual trade as compared to the enormous chances to grow, we are yet to meet the potential. There have been long discussions, and now we’ve come to the point where we need to conclude and that’s what people expect from us.

Could that happen during the expected visit of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to India ?

Hopefully we can do it even faster. This is about providing opportunities to business on both sides. I think we are committed to that through an ambitious agenda. As I have said, we’ve been talking for a long time and now it’s about translating this goodwill to concrete actions and finalise these agreements and make trade real for people

Have you hit upon a timeline for concluding both the negotiations ?

On the CEPA, the Minister of Trade and I have agreed that we would come to a common understanding about a timetable. To come to a resolution, lot of progress has been made but now we just need to get our officials to come together. On the FIPA side, honestly, I’m cautiously optimistic that we can do that in the near future, because I think we both realise that agreeing on that would permit more investment flows not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of scope.

The Canadian government had placed a condition on the discussions on the CEPA, demanding that discussions on the FIPA also be held concurrently. With the Indian government now stating that no bilateral investment treaties would be signed without incorporating the investor-state dispute mechanism in its current form, what would be your approach?

Let me be clear that both countries recognise that the agreements we conclude are going to have progressive elements in them, that’s what Canada stands for. But I must say that there’s the same understanding about vision. Both governments understand that trade means growth and growth means jobs.

Also, Canadian investors are looking at India not only as a single market but as a springboard to other markets in South-East Asia. That’s why today I will be leaving Delhi thinking that we’ve made progress towards a mutually benefitting outcome.