Canada keen on supplying uranium to India: Envoy

Canadian supplies of high quality uranium to India are expected to begin once procedural formalities are completed, the country's envoy has said.

Canada is also keen to ship oil and gas to India while deepening its ties in the fields of space, education and food, said the country's High Commissioner to India Stewart Beck.
Speaking at a media workshop in New Delhi on Friday, Beck said: “We will soon sign the agreement for supplies of uranium. It depends on the DAE ( India's Department of Atomic Energy). Canadian uranium is of high quality.”

Last November, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper jointly announced the conclusion of negotiations for the administrative arrangement between the two countries that would allow implementation of Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA) signed in June 2010.

On the process involved in supplying uranium, Simon Cridland, counsellor and head, advocacy programme at the Canadian High Commission, said: “The administrative arrangement for nuclear cooperation concluded last November. The agreement has to be signed. The agreement has to be in three languages -- English, French and Hindi. We hope to be in a position to sign it soon.”

He said all bilateral agreements signed by Canada would have to be in English and French and the agreements with India have to be in English, French and Hindi.

According to the Canadian High Commission, the country's nuclear safety commission and India's DAE will formally sign an agreement with completion of negotiations for Administrative Arrangement.

Following that, the two governments will take the necessary steps to bring the NCA into force in a timely manner.

The agreement will allow Canadian firms to export and import controlled nuclear materials, equipment and technology to and from India to facilities subject to safeguards applied by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
According to Beck, Canada is also looking at the possibility of shipping oil and gas to India.