Energy to fuel Canada-India trade; clean and green lead way at CIF forum

By SUNIL RAO

India could well meet a sizeable proportion of its rising energy demand through closer cooperation with Canada, and nuclear energy could drive this initiative forward, officials from both countries stated last week during the Canada-India Foundation energy conference and second annual gala last week.

India’s top strategic economic planner Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia and key energy planner Dr Kirit Parikh pointed out India’s quest for energy independence offered huge business opportunities for Canadian companies, particularly in clean energy sectors.

“Our bilateral investment and financial services protection agreement with Canada is in the final stages, and we’re also looking at resuming our energy cooperation with Canada,” Dr Ahluwalia said.

He noted India has been growing an average 8.6 per cent over the last five years and, despite the global slowdown, expects 6.5 per cent growth this year and the next, rising back to around 9 per cent by 2012.

“Built into our projections is a significant rise in energy efficiencies, in all sectors, as we increasingly tend towards clean energies,” he said.

Dr Ahluwalia said thermal plants would continue to have a signicant share in the foreseeable future, given India’s sizeable coal reserves, but the effort would be on to drive efficiencies in the sector.

Coupled with this would be nuclear, wind and solar energies as well as biofuels, as India seeks to stabilize her energy sources.

Addressing delegates during the inaugural plenary session Lisa Raitt, Minister of Natural Resources, underlined Canada’s own thrust into clean and renewable energies, through such initiatives as the new $1 billion clean energy fund slated for research activities, and the Green Infrastructure fund.

She expressed Canada’s willingness to work with Indian partners in energy cooperation, including nuclear technologies.

“We’re already working with researchers in India on improving vehicular efficiencies and traffic flows,” she noted.

Dr Kirit Parikh defended India’s track record on carbon emissions, pointing out while the West continued to blame India (and China) for contributing to greenhouse emissions, it is really the Western consumer who is the bigger polluter by far.

“Our annual per capita carbon emissions average 1.2 tonnes, whereas in the US it is 20 tonnes, in Europe 14 tonnes, and global average (and China’s) is 4 tonnes. How, then, can India be blamed?” Dr Parikh asked.

Clean energies

He however agreed that in common with the rest of the world, India too would seek to increasingly diversify into cleaner energies, and so reduce her greenhouse gas emissions.

The CIF gala held over the weekend also drew a string of luminaries from every political stripe.

Tulsi Tanti of Canada’s wind power giant Suzlon Energy was handed the $50,000 CIF Chanchlani Global Indian award in recognition of his contribution to developing clean energy.

Addressing participants, Dr Ahluwalia said since Canada is the world leader in nuclear energy, cooperation between the two countries in the field could give a major boost to India’s development.

More Indian investment

He noted Indian companies have invested more in Canada than Canadian companies in India, and added he was pleased to see them invest in Canada and spread the message about business opportunities in their home country.

Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Canada-India partnership has great potential, adding his government was taking several steps to raise the trade level with India.

With the two countries co-chairing a G-20 group on future financial regulatory reform, Flaherty said Canada and India have raised their voice against protectionism in the current global crisis.

Need to diversify

Canadian opposition leader Michael Ignatieff said India’s ascendancy is not only a business opportunity but also a challenge to Canada to question its “centre of gravity”.

With the world’s economic power shifting to India and China, the former Harvard professor said Canada must shift its “centre of gravity” away from the US to India and China.

With India already a world leader in many areas like IT and steel, Ignatieff added Canada should lose no time in seeking bigger business partnership with New Delhi.

Canada’s trade with India, while having risen rapidly in recent years, still stands at less than $4 billion per annum. Putting that number in perspective is Canada’s trade with the US, which averages $1 billion… daily.