“The Canadian exports of wheat and barley are anticipated to witness increase in the years to come,” said Richard Dubuc, charge d’affaires at the Canadian Embassy, here Saturday.

Dubuc said that the relations between Ottawa and Riyadh had been progressively growing across many sectors, particularly trade in agricultural commodities. He pointed out that “Canada exported about two million tons of wheat to Riyadh in 2009-10.”

The diplomat gave an overview of the Saudi-Canadian ties with special reference to the strength of Canadian banks.

Referring to the possibility to boost wheat exports to the Kingdom, he said that wheat was by far Canada’s biggest crop and the biggest agricultural export by volume and value.

Canada’s production of wheat and barley is so large that it represents 14 percent of the global export market. This can be further substantiated by the fact that Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) markets more than 20 million ton of grains and has sales of more than $5 billion a year.

Dubuc pointed out that cereals and oil are the two major components in our two-way trade, which has been in the region of SR15 billion annually. To this end, he noted that the Canadian banks have been playing major roles in promoting ties between Canada and the Gulf states including the Kingdom.

Asked about the lifting of the Saudi ban on Canadian beef, Dubuc said that “beef exports from Canada is limited until now.”

He, however, said that Ottawa was quite hopeful of gaining full beef access to the Saudi market in near future because it imposed stringent measures after the outbreak of BSE a few years back. To this end, he also noted the recent visit of a delegation of GCC officials to Canada, who saw for themselves Canadian facilities, where beef consignments undergo stringent checks before exported.

A world-class monitoring, slaughtering and export system is in place in Canada, which has emerged as one of the top nations exporting beef and cattle. He pointed out that the apex Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) safeguards the interests of the consuming nations by enforcing food safety and nutritional quality regulations.

In the mining sector, he said that he was hopeful of boosting cooperation further. A Canadian mining mission will arrive on Oct 7 on a week-long visit, he added. This is in addition to the growing relations on education and cultural front.

More than 14,000 Saudi students are currently on the rolls of the Canadian institutions with a large number of them attending post-graduate or residency programs in medical schools.