Canada eyes decade-long $2.8 bn uranium pact with India as ties improve

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney in Johannesburg on the sidelines of the G20 Summit, Ottawa is likely to finalise a deal to supply New Delhi with uranium, The Globe and Mail reported. Canada’s proposed agreement is expected to run for a decade, valued at $2.8 billion. The fuel would reportedly come from Cameco Corp, the country’s leading uranium producer. The arrangement is likely to form part of a wider framework for nuclear cooperation between the two nations. The report, citing sources, added that there is a possibility of the terms being modified before the announcement is made. This comes nearly two years after the bilateral ties between India and Canada were strained after Ottawa accused New Delhi of being involved in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a proscribed Khalistani terrorist. India-Canada resume trade talks After PM Modi held a meeting with Carney in South Africa, the two sides agreed to restart trade talks for a new deal. According to a statement from PM Modi's office, "The leaders agreed to begin negotiations on a high-ambition Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), aimed at doubling bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030." "Both sides reaffirmed their longstanding civil nuclear cooperation and noted the ongoing discussions on expanding collaboration, including through long-term uranium supply arrangements," the statement added. The resumption of discussions underscores an improvement in ties between the two nations, coming at a time when Carney is seeking to broaden Canada’s trade relationships beyond its largest partner, the United States. India-Canada uranium supply In 2015, India and Canada signed a five-year agreement to supply Cameco uranium to India, valued at about $350-million at the time based on uranium prices. According to the report, the pending agreement will be a new pact rather than the renewal of the 2015 deal. India currently operates about 25 nuclear reactors and is building six more, data from the World Nuclear Association show. A large share of its running units are pressurised heavy-water reactors based on Canada’s Candu technology. Any wider nuclear partnership between New Delhi and Ottawa, beyond a uranium supply agreement, could also involve Canadian plans to develop a commercial small modular reactor that can generate revenue. Canada halted shipments of uranium and nuclear equipment to India in the 1970s after Indian scientists used Canadian-supplied technology in their nuclear weapons programme. The two countries later normalised ties with a pact that came into force in 2013. The Canada–India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement created binding assurances that any nuclear material, equipment or technology exchanged between them would be used only for peaceful applications. All such transfers remain under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards. India-Canada trade Trade ties between Canada and India remain relatively limited. Statistics Canada data for 2024 show Canadian goods exports to India at $5.3 billion, while imports from India totalled about $8 billion. By contrast, Canada shipped nearly $600 billion in goods to the United States and roughly $30 billion to China in the same year.