PANJIM: Canada’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson has said there are many opportunities for India and Canada to work together.
“It was a very good meeting, and we have lots of opportunities for India and Canada to work together,” he told ANI on the sidelines of the India Energy Week conference.
In his speech earlier, Hodgson said that Canada is a great supplier critical minerals and talked of increased trade opportunities with India.
He also made a veiled reference to the United States imposing tariffs on various countries and said there is need to give a message that “we’re going to live in a world where we believe in free trade and trusted relationships” and not where “might makes right and where the strongest put tariffs on everyone else.”
“I don’t need to tell India what it means when people use their economic integration with your country for coercion. I don’t need to tell you what it means when big-eums use tariffs as leverage. We live in a changing world, and energy is at the centre of it,” he said.
“I’m here because like you, the way to resist that change is to build multilateral relationships and to double down on diversification of supplies. You just did, with the EU signing the mother of all deals, was a perfect example of saying, no, we’re not going to live in a world where might makes right. We’re not going to live in a world where the strongest put tariffs on everyone else. We’re going to live in a world where we believe in free trade and trusted relationships,” he said.
He said Canada used to provide “93 % of its energy to one customer” and there is need to diversify. “Canada is a great supplier of those critical minerals and will be talking about that and a number of our companies are here at this conference to both help you develop your own critical minerals but where we have energy to help you with energy transition.
