At the close of the G20 summit in Toronto yesterday, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper oversaw a landmark event in India–Canada bilateral relations. The highly anticipated Agreement for Cooperation in Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Energy was signed by India's Srikumar Banerjee, Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy, and Canada's Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the two prime ministers. The agreement will allow Canadian firms to export controlled nuclear materials, equipment and technology to India. The deal also envisages cooperation in the fields of nuclear waste management and radiation safety. India has already signed similar agreements with several countries, including the United States, France and Russia.
With Canada being the largest uranium producer in the world and Canadian companies having significant expertise in nuclear energy, the Canadian government has recently been eager to engage with India on nuclear sector–related trade. India is embarking on a substantial expansion of nuclear power reactors over the next decade to feed its growing electricity needs and plans to have 12 new reactors running by 2020, consuming an extra 1,500 tonnes of uranium per year. For India, the new deal will allow the government to secure uranium, nuclear equipment and technology necessary to facilitate this expansion; it will also pave the way for advances in research and development in the atomic sector. For Canada, enhanced collaboration with India's civilian nuclear energy market will enable Canadian companies to benefit from greater access to one of the world's largest and fastest expanding economies. Many of India's reactors are already based on Canadian CANDU technology, which is advantageous for Canadian companies trying to increase their business in India's nuclear sector.
The agreement provides for cooperation in areas such as design, construction, maintenance, sharing of operating experience and decommissioning of nuclear reactors, supply of uranium, nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear waste management. Both countries will also promote cooperation in the use of nuclear energy applications in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, industry and environment, nuclear safety and environmental protection. Both India and Canada have recognized through their agreement that sharing of nuclear energy should be safe, environmentally friendly and a sustainable source of energy. The agreement provides international treaty level assurances, through the International Atomic Energy Agency, that nuclear material, equipment and technology originating in Canada will be used only for civilian, peaceful, and non-explosive purposes.
The Canadian and Indian prime ministers issued a joint statement indicating that they are committed to the ratification of the agreement and completion of all remaining steps necessary to ensure its early implementation. Prime Minister Singh, at a media conference with Prime Minister Harper, said that the civil nuclear cooperation agreement that the two countries have signed "breaks new grounds" in the history of bilateral cooperation in the sector, adding that "it reflects the change in international realities and will open new doors for mutually beneficial cooperation in nuclear technology." Prime Minister Harper echoed these sentiments, saying that India is a "powerhouse that is going to play a very important role in the world," and that the civil nuclear agreement will greatly benefit Canada's nuclear energy sector and serve as a symbol of the growing trade relationship between Canada and India. We understand that certain nuclear supply trade missions from Canada to India are already planned.
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