New Delhi, Mar 9 (PTI) India and Canada on Thursday will hold discussions on ways to strengthen economic ties and proposed free trade agreement between the two countries, the commerce ministry has said.

Canadian International Trade Minister will be visiting India from March 10-13 to hold the fifth India-Canada Ministerial Dialogue on Trade and Investment (MDTI).

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The meeting will be co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

"During the MDTI meeting, various bilateral trade and investment issues will be discussed in order to further strengthen the bilateral ties and economic partnership including India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA)," it said.

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The bilateral trade stood at USD 5.7 billion (exports USD 3 billion and imports USD 2.7 billion) in 2020-21 as against USD 6.7 billion in 2019-20.

Major Indian exports to Canada include drugs and pharmaceutical products, iron & steel products, marine products, cotton fabrics and readymade garments and chemicals, while imports include pulses, fertilizers, coal and crude petroleum.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)