PM to sign Indo-Canada Nuclear deal

TORONTO: India and Canada will sign a civil nuclear agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's forthcoming visit to the G-20 Summit in Toronto later this month.

The four-day visit commences on June 26. The agreement will be signed after a bilateral meeting between Singh and his Canadian counterpart, Stephen Harper, who will be hosting a special dinner in honour of Indian Prime Minister on June 27, official sources said yesterday.

The two countries will also review their bilateral economic and cultural ties.

"We hope to complete the prerequisite of the agreement before Dr Singh arrives in Toronto," they said.

The agreement will allow Indian firms to export and import controlled nuclear material, equipment and technology to and from Canada, they added.

India has already signed similar agreements with countries like the US, France and Russia.

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.

"Negotiations have been concluded. There will be a bilateral cooperation in civil nuclear agreement. Canada is the biggest exporter of uranium in the world. Equally important is that we (India and Canada) are using the same technology and exploring the possibility of setting up nuclear power plants in third countries," they said.

Singh will review progress in the proposed comprehensive economic partnership agreement, the Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement (FIPPA), MoUs signed by the two countries in energy sector and cultural and social security agreements, they said.

The Indian prime minister will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation including Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and National Security Advisor Shivshankar Menon.

Both countries are keen to strengthen their economic ties and the forthcoming meeting between the two Prime Ministers would be an important historic event, they said.

A joint-study group set up to explore the areas of mutual interests for concluding a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) has concluded its study and submitted its report, they said, adding the two leaders are expected to release the study and start negotiations.

Both countries will try to triple the bilateral trade and investment volume to CAD 15 billion by 2015 from the current CAD 5 billion, they added.