Ending a 36-year-old freeze in nuclear cooperation, Canada signed a landmark civil nuclear deal with India with Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh assuring that imported uranium and atomic technology will not be used for “any unintended purpose.”
Dr Singh said the nuclear cooperation pact “breaks new grounds” in the history of Indo-Canadian cooperation in the atomic sector while his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper called it a good agreement because “we cannot live in the past of 1970s”.
The agreement signed in the presence of Dr Singh and Mr Harper came 36 years after Canada halted nuclear cooperation with India and slapped sanctions after it exploded a nuclear bomb in 1974 for which Canadian-designed reactors were used.
Dr Singh and Mr Harper also provided reassurances that there were adequate safeguards in the civilian deal.
The agreement will enable India to import Canadian atomic equipment and technology and secure uranium by providing the Canadian nuclear industry access to the expanding multi-billion dollar Indian nuclear market. The possibility of having joint ventures will also be explored.
Canada is the eighth nation to reach a civil nuclear deal with India since the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group, a cartel which trades in nuclear fuel, equipment and technology, lifted a 34-year ban on India in 2008. US, France and Russia are among the countries with which India has civil nuclear pacts.
—PTI