New Delhi: India and Canada reached agreements in important sectors such as critical minerals and uranium on Monday, the Prime Ministers of both countries said in New Delhi on Monday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between the two nations, while announcing pacts covering technology and promoting the use of renewable energy.
“Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust, and positivity,” Modi said.
The ties between the two countries effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi of a hand in the murder of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who happened to be a Canadian citizen.
Carney’s visit is being seen as an effort by Canada to reset strained ties, at a time when the country wants to diversify trade beyond the United States.
“There has been more engagement between the Canadian and Indian governments in the last year than there has been in more than two decades combined,” Carney said in his speech.
“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight, a partnership between two confident countries charting our own course for the future,” he said.
India — the world’s most populous country with 1.4 billion people — has ambitious plans to expand nuclear power capacity from its current eight to 100 gigawatts by 2047.
“In civil nuclear energy, we have struck a landmark deal for long-term uranium supply,” Modi said, adding the countries would also work together on small modular reactors and advanced reactors, as reported by AFP.
The Canadian PM also said they had agreed the launch of a “strategic energy partnership with significant potential” including CAN$2.6 billion ($1.9 billion) uranium supply agreement “supporting India’s nuclear ambitions”.
Canada was “well positioned to contribute, as a reliable supplier” of liquefied natural gas (LNG), from its west coast, Carney added.
“As India seeks access to critical minerals for its manufacturing, its clean-tech, and its nuclear plants, Canada’s resource base and world-leading companies position it as a strategic partner,” he said.
India and Canada agreed to resume negotiations on a proposed free-trade deal – the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement – last year.
“Our target is to reach $50 billion in bilateral trade,” Modi said. “This is why we have decided to finalise a comprehensive economic partnership soon,” he added, saying it “will open new opportunities to invest and create jobs in both countries.”
He wanted to reach a deal on the “ambitious agreement” by the end of the year to “reduce barriers and increase certainty”, Carney said, adding that the nations were renewing security cooperation through a “new defence partnership”.
Canadian pension and wealth funds have already invested $73 billion in India.
