India and Canada are set to sign a civil nuclear agreement that will allow New Delhi to secure uranium, nuclear equipment and technology to meet its energy needs during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit in Toronto for the upcoming G-20 Summit.
The four-day visit commences on June 26.
Canada will become the latest country with which India shall have civil nuclear deal since the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) allowed New Delhi to resume global nuclear trade in September 2008.
India has already signed similar agreements with countries like the U.S., France and Russia.
The deal will remove the last irritant in the way of stronger political, economic and strategic ties between the two countries.
Both the countries have declared their resolve to triple bilateral trade from around CAD 5 billion to CAD 15 billion in the next five years.
“Besides, a number of agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) are under discussion and negotiations with the Canadian side. Some of these have made substantial progress and if concluded before the visit in all respects, may be signed during the visit,” official sources yesterday.
Apart from civil nuclear cooperation, both countries are expected to sign MoUs for Cooperation in Mining, Higher Education, Culture and Social Security, they said.
Agreements and MoUs will be signed after a bilateral meeting between Singh and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper on June 27.
Thirty five years after it banned nuclear supplies to New Delhi, Ottawa lifted the sanction on September 2008. The ban was imposed after the Pokhran nuclear test in 1974.
