Canada and India will be signing a civil nuclear cooperation agreement during the forthcoming visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Toronto. The agreement will be the high point of a bilateral meeting between Singh and his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper, on June 27.
India has already signed similar agreements with the US, France, Russia, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentina and Namibia. The agreement will allow Canadian firms to export and import controlled nuclear material, equipment and technology to and from India.
"Negotiations have been concluded. There will be a bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear agreement. We are the biggest exporter of uranium in the world. Equally important is that we (India and Canada) are using the same technology," Canadian high commissioner to India Joseph Caron told reporters in New Delhi.
Besides uranium exports, Canada is pitching its 1200-MWe class Advanced CANDU reactor as a good fit for the Indian nuclear programme due to its size and localisation potential. Caron said given India's energy needs and the global realisation for the need to have nuclear power plants in view of climate change concerns, the potential for cooperation was huge. "We believe that India and Canadian cooperation will be most competitive."
