India, Canada to sign MoU for cooperation in highways, transport sector

New Delhi, Mar 29(ANI): India and Canada have decided to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to co-operate in the fields of road safety, highway management, intelligent transport systems besides other areas of mutual interest.

This was decided during the meeting of Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath with his Canadian counterpart John Baird at Ottawa, Canada last week.

During his visit, Nath met several officials of the Canadian Government and apprised them of the huge investment opportunity for Canadian investors in India.

He also urged the Canadian Government to facilitate their participation in India’s massive infrastructure development programme, particularly the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

The Minister stressed that the programme has a large scope for the private sector with about 45 billion dollars to be sourced from them.

During his interaction with the Export Development Canada (EDC), the Minister was informed about EDC’s plan to expand their present Indian Portfolio and emerge as the largest project financing player, benefiting both the countries.

Nath urged EDC to develop appropriate financial models to channelize long term pension funds to participate in the India’s highway development programme. (ANI)