Canada and India reach a deal to supply uranium
Scarborough Mirror
Canada and India signed a path-breaking nuclear deal this week, which will strengthen and solidify economic and trade prospects between the two countries.
The
deal, brokered in record time, is a feather in Canada’s cap as its one
of the first deals India has signed with the western country and far ahead of a yet-to-be completed deal India has with the U.S.
Under the terms of the deal,
Canada will supply uranium to India for Indian nuclear reactors as it
aims to increase its capacity to generate more electricity in the coming
decade. To make the deal happen, John Baird, Canada’s foreign
minister was in New Delhi this week to sign the deal after a series of
meetings with senior Indian members and his Indian counterpart Sushma
Swaraj, India’s foreign minister.
In an interview given to India’s largest daily
English newspaper, The Times of India, Baird said ” the agreement
starts a new chapter in relations with India.”
Canada will also express support for India’s
membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group even as the two countries plan
to build on higher capacity nuclear reactors. India’s Department of
Atomic Energy (DAE) calls for the upgrading of Indian nuclear reactors
from their current capacity of 200MW to 750MW.
Both the countries will also come together in some joint efforts as well.
In late October, the two countries will
co-host an upcoming nuclear security workshop in India with 15 countries
participating in the summit.
This is a first for India as it organizes a meeting of this magnitude with another host country.
India is also going to tap into Canada’s skill development resources in the hydrocarbon and water management sectors.
Baird said Canada was excited to be a supplier
of oil and gas to help India attain its development goals and Canadian
companies with experience in green energy would help India tackle some
of their environmental challenges.
In other news, Canada’s new high commissioner
to India is Nadir Patel, the Indian born, but Canadian raised young
44-year-old diplomat.
Patel was born in Gujarat, India and his parents emigrated to Canada when he was a child.
Interestingly Patel comes from the same state
as India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and speaks the same language –
Gujarati – at home.
Patel went to Wilfrid Laurier University in
Waterloo where he finished his under-graduate in political science in
1993. After graduating, he joined the Federal Public Service and rose in
rank.
Up until three years ago Patel was Canada’s
consul general in Shanghai. He was recently the assistant deputy
minister for corporate planning, finance and information technology in
Ottawa, as well as the and chief financial officer at foreign affairs,
Trade and Development Canada.
Patel will be in India and his mission among other things is to increase trade between the two countries.
Currently, bilateral trade between the two
countries is pegged at $6 billion, and is short of the $15 billion that
was supposed to have been reached by 2015 pledged by the prime ministers
of the two countries some years ago.
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