A Saskatchewan delegation is heading to India Saturday for a trade mission to help promote Saskatchewan-based products to the world’s second-most populous countries.
Potash, Uranium and grain will be the primary focus for the delegation, as both Cameco and AGT Foods will be joining members of the provincial government on the trade mission.
Trade minister Jeremy Harrison said former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his firm Harper and Associates will be joining the Saskatchewan delegation on the trip.
“Harper and Associates have played a significant role in the planning of this mission as well,” Harrison said. “We just see there being very real value in the experience (and) relationships that the organization has, but Prime Minister Harper has.”
Harrison said as Saskatchewan is an export-based economy, the province needs to be seen in countries such as India, which is the second-most populated country in the world.
“Sustained long-term relationships are very important, and it was very clear to me, and I think to the Premier as well, seeing Ontario or Alberta or British Columbia where there have been very long-term presences, those relationships that have been built by their local representatives with companies, with governments, pay real dividends.”
Harrison said after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s last trade mission to India, things haven’t gone well for Saskatchewan.
“The reality is after Prime Minister Trudeau’s trip to India, we saw a 100% tariff imposed on our pulse exports into the country, which have remained in place,” Harrison said. “We saw a very significant drop in trade in that same period of time.”
In 2018, 629 million dollars of goods were exported to India from Saskatchewan, making the province one of Canada’s top exporters to India.
