CANADIAN HIGH COMMISSIONER CALLS ON DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER

* Sukhbir Badal invites Canadian entrepreneurs to invest in Punjab

Chandigarh, June 24 – Punjab Deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today invited Canadian entrepreneurs to invest in Punjab in the field of education, infrastructure development, food processing and solar energy even as he assured fastest possible clearances for their projects.

The Deputy chief minister extended this invitation when Canadian High Commissioner Nadir Patel called upon here today evening.

During the interaction, the Deputy chief minister said besides the close people to people interaction between the two countries which was resulting areas of mutual interest, Canadian investors could benefit in investing in several key areas in Punjab. “We in Punjab are taking a number of pioneering steps including creating a Edu-city besides establishing solar parks and even creating 2 million tonnes of silo capacity. Canadian investors can be partners in these works”, he added.

Mr Badal also highlighted how Canadian food companies could invest in the food processing sector in Punjab. He said Canada possessed technical expertise in agriculture which could be used to upgrade agricultural practices in Punjab.

The Deputy CM highlighted how the Punjab government had cut red tape and made investment into the State an easy and transparent process. “We have created a new department in Punjab Invest whose CEO has the powers of several departmental heads. This ensures that all clearances for new units are awarded expeditiously”. He said currently the department was taking a little above one month to give all clearances needed for new investment. “We can assure you the fastest possible clearances”, he added.

The Canadian envoy Mr Nadir Patel said Canadian investors were keen to invest in agriculture besides large scale commercial and mixed use land development besides other fields. He said there was a huge scope in investment in the education sector. “We are keen to partner with the Punjab government after identifying the areas we can move forward on”.

Mr Nadir Patel said the Canadian team would submit a firm proposal on areas in which it would like to invest in Punjab shortly.