Toronto, June 28 (IANS) India and Canada Sunday identified clean energy as the priority area for cooperation, while resolving to grow their bilateral trade nearly three-fold to $15 billion in the next five years.
‘Today, we have added fresh vitality and content to our cooperation,’ Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said at a joint press conference here with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper.
‘We have identified renewable energy, clean technologies and energy efficiency as other priority areas of cooperation,’ the prime minister said referring to the bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement also signed Sunday.
‘We have also decided to focus on mining and agriculture as other priority areas,’ Singh said, while the two leaders said they will also push a comprehensive economic partnership agreement.
The prime minister hoped the partnership with Canada will not only go a long way in the areas identified, but also facilitate solutions to global challenges such as energy and food security, sustainable development, climate change and the fight against extremism and poverty.
Singh and Harper held a tete-a-tete for about 15 minutes first, after which the two sides met over an expanded bilateral meet for another 35 minutes. The pacts, including the one on civil nuclear, were signed soon after.
