Stressing on strong bilateral trade and socio-cultural bond shared by India and Canada, Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil today called for augmenting the bilateral economic and trade ties through partnerships in areas including IT, agriculture and education.

In a meeting with Stewart Beck, High Commissioner from Canada, Patil said that there was major scope to expand economic and business cooperation in wide-range of fields like Information Technology, marketing agriculture produce, sharing of educational tools and technologies.

He stressed that Punjab has achieved a major breakthrough in the agriculture sector and allied fields, and that the state is emerging as a progressive and vibrant investment destination, said an official spokesman.

Patil said Punjab's land is fertile and water from five rivers is available for irrigation and that bold initiatives are being taken to generate more power, with focus on tapping solar energy to meet growing demand in different sector of economy.

He suggested for strengthening partnerships in agri- related ventures especially food processing that has a major scope for collaboration.