Asian Regionalism : Canadian and Indian Perspectives

Contents: Introduction. I. Perspectives on regionalism in Asia: 1. Canada and Asia: implications for Canada India policy dialogue/Elliot L. Tepper. 2. Indian perspectives on East Asia/Charan Wadhva and Gulshan Sachdeva. 3. India and regional economic groupings in Asia/K.R.G. Nair. 4. An assessment of formal and informal arrangements for East Asian engagement : Canada and India/Marc Lanteigne. 5. Asian regionalism and India/S.L. Rao. 6. A review of the APEC membership debate and prospects for India's admission after 2007/Yuen Pau Woo. 7. The changing strategic context for regional cooperation in East Asia and Asia Pacific: unipolarity and its implications/Paul Evans. 8. Cooperative security and regional cooperation: challenges and opportunities/Shanta Nedungadi Varma. II. Perspectives on World Trade Organisation and Doha Development Agenda: 9. Trade policy in the context of the Doha Development Agenda: a Canadian perspective/Michael Gifford. 10.  Trade policy in the context of the Doha Development Agenda: global and Indian perspectives/Anwar-ul Hoda. 11. Post-Cancun WTO perspectives: India's negotiating position as a developing country/Charan Wadhva. III. Strengthening Canada-India bilateral relations: 12. APFC survey on the role of Indo-Canadians in facilitating Canada-India business. 13. Indo-Canadians and Canada-India relationship: towards a win-win scenario/Kant Bhargava and Ravi Seethapathy. 14. Indo-Canadians and Partnership for the 21 century: an agenda for action/Ravi Seethapathy. 15. Canada-India economic relations: tapping unrealised potential/K.R.G. Nair. Index.

"Canada and India are in many ways natural partners--two middle powers sharing a common political and legal tradition derived from the British Commonwealth, as well as a commitment to multiculturalism, democracy and international institutions. India's founding Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had a personal friendship with Canadian Prime Ministers Trudeau and Pearson. Despite this promising start, bilateral relations never took flight--a function of cold war politics, India's relative isolation through much of the post-independence period, the enormous distance between the two countries, and, deep disagreements over India's testing of nuclear weapons in 1974 and 1998. By the start of the new millennium, India and Canada were ready to embark on a new phase in bilateral relations--one defined not only by trade and investment interests, but also by a contemporary understanding of their standing in the world, and the potential contribution that both countries can make to issues of regional and global significance.

In leading the shift to a new way of thinking about Canada-India relations, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada and the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi launched the "Track 2" Canada-India policy dialogue series in 2003. These annual meetings provide a venue for scholars, policy analysts, business people, and civil society representatives to discuss issues that are of mutual interest to Canada and India going well beyond the limitations of official dialogue. Essays break new ground in identifying areas of mutual interest and provide a glimpse into the potential for stronger and deeper Canada-India ties." (jacket)