NEW DELHI – India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi.

The pacts, covering technology and renewable energy, were announced after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian counterpart Mark Carney hailed a new start in their nations’ relationship.

“Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust, and positivity,” Modi said.

Ties collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi of orchestrating a deadly campaign against Sikh activists in Canada, which India rejected. Carney’s first visit to India since taking office aims to reset strained ties and diversify trade beyond the US.

“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 New Delhi, in a speech alongside Modi.

“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.”

New opportunities

India, with 1.4 billion people, aims to increase nuclear capacity from 8 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.

Carney said they agreed on a “strategic energy partnership with significant potential,” including a CAN$2.6 billion (US$1.9 billion) uranium supply deal supporting India’s nuclear ambitions. He added Canada is “well positioned to contribute as a reliable LNG supplier” from its west coast.

“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. The two countries agreed last year to resume talks on the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement.

“Our target is to reach US$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”.

Defence deal

Carney aimed to finalize an “ambitious agreement” by year’s end to “reduce barriers and increase certainty”, while nations renew security cooperation through a “new defence partnership”. Canadian pension and wealth funds have invested US$73 billion in India.

Before Carney’s office last year, Ottawa accused Modi’s government of involvement in the 2023 killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian citizen in a fringe group advocating for Khalistan.

Khalistan militants have been blamed for the assassination of an Indian prime minister and a passenger jet bombing. –

Nampa/AFP