December 28, 2002	Saturday	Shawwal 23, 1423

TORONTO, Dec 27: A high-powered Canadian delegation headed by Federal Minister for Industry Allan Rock will soon visit Pakistan to explore possibilities of joint ventures in the industrial sector, officials sources said here on Friday.

Allan Rock, the sources said, has been officially invited by his Pakistani counterpart Liaquat Jatoi. The sources added that the delegation is expected to visit Islamabad in the last week of February or early March.

Meanwhile, Anwar Merchant, President of Canada-Pakistan Business Council, told Dawn on Thursday that the Canadian delegation will include some leading industrialists who are intending to have joint ventures in Pakistan.

He pointed out that Rock’s proposed visit will further enhance trade relations between Pakistan and Canada.

According to an earlier report, Allan Rock had said that Canada’s economy is expected to grow faster than any other G7 countries. And his assessment was proved correct by the Statistics Canada this week when it said that the country’s economy has pushed ahead in the first nine months of the current calender year. It said Canadian economic growth — as measured by gross domestic product — advanced by a healthy 0.3 per cent. Economic and financial experts have predicted that the GDP growth in the current quarter would come in around 2.5 per cent, putting Canada ahead of the US.