Canadian Mayors attend Urban20: Invite India’s MSMEs to settle and do business in Ontario
Ahmedabad, Under India’s G20 Presidency, Ahmedabad is hosting Urban20 which brings together Mayors from global G20 cities to establish a platform for cities to collectively inform G20 negotiations.
Over 89 Mayors from different parts of the world, spread across G20 countries are meeting in Ahmedabad. Two Mayors, and one Deputy Mayor from Ontario, Canada are also attending. These are Mayor Berry Vrbanovic of Kitchener, Mayor Lucas Cleveland of Cobourg and Deputy Mayor Harkirat Singh of Brampton. Ontario is home to over 900,000 people of Indian origin (many from the states of Gujarat and Punjab). Kitchener and its neighbour city, Waterloo is also host to some of the top schools and universities where many Indian students choose to study. An hour away from Toronto, Coburg has significant business opportunities that are of interest to small business owners from India.
The Mayors also shared the experience that Ontario has about encouraging environmental programs to tackle climate change, water security and improving frameworks for urban governance. They also highlightedthe eagerness of their cities to attract business investment from India to their cities.
Also visiting from Canada is Vikram Khurana, Chairman of Toronto Business Development Centre (TBDC), which is the sole administrator of Ontario’s special immigration project known as Ontario Immigrant Nominee Program – Entrepreneur Success Initiative (OINP-ESI), which is expediting 100 qualified entrepreneurs andhelping them set up or buy businesses in Ontario. TBDC also supports Canadian business visa to explore and carry out due diligence in Ontario, Canada. Applicants that visit Ontario are provided business supports to choose most suitable investments and cities across Ontario outside Toronto and surrounding cities.
Under this initiative, Indian investors that have a net worth of C$400,000 and wish to invest C$200,000 ormore in their Ontario-based business.
