International Trade committee  Thank you, Rob. Honourable members of the House of Commons, thank you for giving me the opportunity to present my views on a subject that is important to both Canada and India. I am Naval Bajaj, president of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. I am a small business owner and

International Trade committee  I think that one of the things when the tools are specified.... That's one of the roles that our chamber takes. As I mentioned, we had a trade mission in January, and we'll be taking another trade mission. This is mostly.... When I say 50-plus, most of them are the SME industries

International Trade committee  We all know that when it comes to—

International Trade committee  I think that's a good question, because one of the things, as I mentioned in my remarks, is also that the chamber is more about the SMEs and the grassroots level. One of the comments that I always make is that to really grow these trade relations.... We speak about all the big

International Trade committee  I'm sorry. Can you repeat the question?

International Trade committee  When we look at both countries, we see that they have their own expertise. When we speak about Canada, we speak about technology. We speak about education. We speak about the energy sector. When we speak about India, India is in need of.... When you speak about clean energy, that

International Trade committee  Our organization's coast-to-coast presence has close to more than 2,000 paid members and a database of more than 5,000 members.

International Trade committee  On CEPA, very briefly, as we spoke about, we need to grow the trade and investment between both countries. I think it's beneficial to both countries. In opening up the market, we speak about goods, we speak about services, and we speak about mobility. That's where the help is goi

International Trade committee  Just to add to that, when you are specifically looking at how that will help create jobs in Canada, we are looking at a marketplace of close to 1.2 billion people. We all know that India is growing. I understand your comment about a lot of people who make under one dollar, but if

International Trade committee  I don't remember the exact number of years, but I think I can say, if I'm not mistaken, that it's in the last 10 to 15 years—

International Trade committee  One of the things to look at on those stats is very interesting. India also realizes how important the global market is for India, although it's a tough economy, a tough market, to enter. Going back to the eighties, when there was a government that decided to pull out when it cam

International Trade committee  I think I also made the point when I was speaking that it's not just about trade between the two countries. When it comes to India, Canadian companies can look at getting access to the entire South Asian market. It's the same thing for Indian companies. Once this starts building

International Trade committee  On that note, during the break, you and I were speaking about milkmen and how the supply is happening at the dairies and all of that. For me, I was born and brought up in India, and I can tell you about some of the things. If you were to go back 30 or 40 years to the way farming

International Trade committee  You know what? The BlackBerry's biggest market is in India.

International Trade committee  What a good question you've asked me. I am very happy that you've asked me this question.