At a media event held at the Omni King Edward Hotel in Toronto Canada India Foundation (CIF) launched its ambitious 2015 program with two major announcements, the CIF delegation to Vibrant Gujarat 2015, Jan 11-13, and the Canada India Healthcare Forum 2015, May 19-20, in Toronto.
CIF’s 50 member strong delegation to Vibrant Gujarat will be led by Honourable Chris Alexander, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, Government of Canada. Co-leader of the delegation will be CIF’s Chair, Dr. V.I. “Lucky” Lakshmanan. Honourable Kellie Leitch, Minister of Labour and Minister of Status of Women, Government of Canada will be the second cabinet minister from the federal government to be part of the delegation, which will also include Members of Parliament, Patrick Brown and Devinder Shory, co-chairs of the Canada India Interparliamentary Friendship Group. Honourable Dipika Damerla, Associate Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Government of Ontario, and the first woman of Indian origin to become minister at either federal or provincial level in Canada, will represent Ontario in the delegation. More than 15 CEOs as well as other business executives will make up one of the strongest Canadian delegations to visit India.
Canada India Healthcare Forum 2015 will be the 5th themed forum organized by CIF, following successful forums on Energy, Mining, Agriculture and Infrastructure. It will bring together government representatives and healthcare experts from the two countries to discuss ways for raising the healthcare bar in India, utilizing Canadian expertise and experience while understanding any challenges that may lie in the way. Areas of healthcare to be covered include Diseases prevalent among South Asians, Rehabilitation, Pharmaceuticals including generic drugs, Rural (native and tribal) healthcare, India’s traditional healthcare solutions and many more. Organizing partners of CIF will be the Toronto Rehab Institute –UHN, and Indo-Canadian Business Chamber, based in India. Several healthcare related organizations have already confirmed or expressed interest in being part of the Forum. The discussions will be crystallized into a set of action-oriented recommendations to the governments.
Welcoming media, delegates, healthcare sector representatives and dignitaries, Dr. Lakshmanan stressed the important role CIF has played since its inception to promote stronger Canada-India ties, by focusing on the public policy perspective. Minister Damerla, who will not only be a member of the delegation to Gujarat, but also a speaker in the Healthcare Forum, applauded CIF for recognizing the importance of linking Canada’s service sector to India, through the healthcare forum. She said she looked forward to her visit to Gujarat to meet with the Minister of Health and other healthcare sector leaders there, in order to understand India’s healthcare challenges and solutions.
Congratulating CIF’s leaders on their initiative, India’s Consul General Shri Akhilesh Mishra also thanked the Government of Canada for being among the first countries to recognize the potential of engaging with Gujarat with the then Chief Minister and current Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, He said that, however, Canada needed to step it up more or run the risk of being left behind other countries in the rage to engage India in business initiatives. He said MOUs and meetings are no longer enough and exhorted the delegates to go with result-oriented objectives.
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