Toronto: Rana Sarkar, an Indo-Canadian who was till recently national director for high growth markets at the Toronto-based multi-national KPMG, has been named by Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus Liberal government as Canadas Consul-General to San Francisco.
Simultaneously, Sarkar has also been named a member of the high-profile Canadian official team for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with the US and Mexico.
The Indo-Canadian community is elated over this very high profile appointment:
"Rana Sarkar (previously President of Canada-India Business Council) brings an impressive array of skills to his new position as Consul General in San Francisco," says Kasi Rao, currently President of Canada-India Business Council and Vice-President of Asia-Pacific Foundation. "First, Rana is a global Canadian and has operated in multiple geographies - Canada, UK and India. Second, he has brought individual networks and made them into institutional ones.
"Rana has maintained an abiding interest in the ideas and innovation space and therefore will be adept at positioning the Canadian advantage in a critically important global city of San Francisco."
Gary Comerford, who till recently was President of C-IBC, says in an interview that Sarkar "will be a very strong addition to the Canadian-US trade team. His knowledge and considerable expertise in the areas of international trade will be invaluable as the NAFTA agreement is modernized."
Sarkar was also a Liberal Party candidate for the federal riding of Don Valley North (in Toronto) in 2014 but was not successful and he later became a member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's team of advisers.
Sarkar was earlier visiting lecturer at the London School of Economics and Political Science and more recently Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.
Appointment of Sarkar in this high profile position is amongst a series of appointments of Indo-Canadians made by the Justin Trudeau government. They include four Indo-Canadian federal ministers: Amarjeet Sohi (Minister for Infrastructure and Communities); Bardish Chagger (Minister for Small Business and Tourism and House Leader); Harjit Singh Sajjan (Minister for National Defense); and Navdeep Bains (Minister for Innovation, Science and Economic Development).