When Prime Minister Stephen Harper visited Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2009, the two leaders decided to designate 2011 as the Year of India in Canada.
Then, during a meeting last year in Canada, the two noted initiatives of further collaboration between Canadian and Indian educational institutions.
Carleton University will symbolize these two meetings and the growing relationship between the two countries with the establishment of an India chair for its relatively new Canada-India Centre for Excellence in Science, Technology, Trade and Policy.
“The two nations will profit from this. … Both Canada and India have recognized the potential benefits of working together,” said Carleton president Roseann O’Reilly Runte, who will be signing a memorandum of understanding with India’s High Commissioner to Canada on Monday afternoon.
The Indian government is funding the position with a $2-million investment. Each year, a professor from India will join Carleton’s faculty, teach two classes and give a public lecture.
Runte said the visiting chair and the centre will help promote joint research and writing projects along with cultural awareness between the two countries.
High Commissioner Shashishekhar M. Gavai said education presents a great opportunity for continued collaboration between the two countries.
He said while many students travel out of India for higher education, the numbers who come to Canada are still quite small.
About 160,000 Indian students studied abroad in 2008, but only 3,000 of them chose to come to Canada, according to a report by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada.
“There is no justification for this, because the Canadian education system is excellent and needs to be promoted more in India.”
This comes at a time when the two countries are in the midst of talks about a free-trade agreement.
“For several years, the relations was kind of static, but it’s over the past few years that all these developments have taken place,” said Gavai, referring to ongoing initiatives and agreements, such as the nuclear deal signed last year.
Devesh Shah, the chair of the Ottawa chapter of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, said trade and collaboration has been increasing recently.
Bilateral trade between the two countries reached $4.14 billion in 2009, up from $2.87 billion in 2005.
“The main reason is Canada has started relying less and less on the U.S. — Canada needs to look at other emerging economies,” said Shah.
Shah said the large flow of people moving from rural areas to urban centres in India is putting strain on cities.
“That’s where Canada’s strength can be leveraged,” said Shah, adding that Canadian institutions can be used for infrastructure building and environmental management within those areas.
Meanwhile, the Year of India will see various cultural, business and educational conferences and festivities take place across the country throughout 2011 including the International Indian Film Academy awards that are to be held in Toronto in June.