It highlights the incredible potential between Canada and India. India is the most populous democracy in the world, soon to be the most populous country in the world, and then you have a country like Canada, the second-largest land mass in the world, with a very small population but full of resources, talent, and the ability to provide value to India and its economy.
When Prime Minister Modi was elected, he made some very bold commitments. He has committed to very significant structural, economic, and social reforms. We welcome those reforms.
He has spoken about “Make in India”, which is his plan to attract investment to create jobs in India. We welcome that. The way you attract investment, of course, is to protect investors when they invest in your economy. We have been busy for a number of years negotiating a foreign investment promotion and protection agreement.
Under the previous Indian government, unfortunately, those discussions and our discussions on a free trade agreement languished, not because of Canada's unwillingness to engage, but because of what appeared to be paralysis within the structures of government in India.
Prime Minister Modi's election provides us with a brand new opportunity to re-energize our economic partnership. You will have noticed that Prime Minister Modi was very clear that he sees Canada as a preferred partner for engagement going forward. He also highlighted the fact that he would like to see both our investment treaty discussions and our negotiations on a free trade agreement move forward rapidly to a conclusion. We welcome that, and we are ready to engage with their negotiators. In fact, some of our negotiators have already been requested to go back to India and continue those discussions.
This is a great opportunity for Canada to share some of its expertise. We have tremendous strengths in things such as energy and energy security. In food security, Canada is a world leader in agrifood technology and storage solutions like dry storage and cold storage. We are leaders in things such as infrastructure, transportation infrastructure, and aerospace. These are all areas that India needs to have partners in, and we want to be those trusted partners.