Ottawa, Nov 25 : In a significant step towards enhancing India-Canada bilateral ties, Indian High Commissioner to the North American country, Dinesh K Patnaik met the Premier of the Canadian province of Alberta, Danielle Smith. Both sides discussed important areas of bilateral partnership, including energy, trade, agriculture, technology collaboration, research, and people-to-people connections.

â??Honoured to meet Premier Danielle Smith . We had an excellent discussion on key aspects of our bilateral partnership â?? energy, trade, agriculture, technology collaboration, research, and people-to-people ties. Great potential ahead to elevate our relationship through fair, balanced, and mutually beneficial cooperation,â?? the Indian High Commission in Ottawa quoted Patnaik as saying.

Following the meeting, Danielle Smith took to X and posted: â??Alberta has deep and growing ties with India and today I had the pleasure of meeting Dinesh K Patnaik, Indiaâ??s High Commissioner to Canada, to talk about how we can take that partnership to the next level. We discussed Albertaâ??s role in helping meet Indiaâ??s growing needs for safe, reliable energy, high quality agricultural products, as well as new opportunities in technology. â??

â??With a strong Indo-Canadian community here at home and Indian companies already investing in Alberta, there is huge potential ahead. Our message is simple Alberta is open for business and ready to be a long-term partner in Indiaâ??s growth,â?? she added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday held a bilateral meeting with his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Johannesburg, in which he noted that India has set a target of $50 billion by 2030 for bilateral trade between the two countries.

â??Had a very productive meeting with Prime Minister Mark Carney of Canada. We appreciated the significant momentum in our bilateral ties since our earlier meeting held during the G7 Summit hosted by Canada. We agreed to further advance our relations in the coming months,â?? PM Modi wrote on X.

The Prime Minister added that India and Canada have great potential in strengthening trade and investment linkages.

â??We have set a target of 50 billion USD by 2030 for our bilateral trade. Canadian Pension Funds are also showing keen interest in Indian companies,â?? PM Modi informed on X.

In a statement shared on X, PM Carney said, â??Prime Minister Narendra Modi and I met at the G20 Summit today, and launched negotiations for a trade deal that could more than double our trade to $70 billion. India is the worldâ??s fifth-largest economy, and that means big new opportunities for Canadian workers and businesses.â??

/IANS