India & Canada

India and Canada have concluded negotiations for operationalization of civil nuclear deal signed in 2010, which is expected to ensure supply of uranium to India even though there was no formal signing of any agreement. After a meeting with his counterpart Manmohan Singh, Canadian PM Stephen Harper, who is on a six-day state visit, welcomed the conclusion of negotiations on the appropriate arrangement and “looked forward to its early coming into effect”.
India and Canada have been negotiating administrative arrangements for supply of uranium under the pact signed in 2010 but it has taken time with Canada insisting on a monitoring mechanism or a “reporting approach” for its uranium exports. The Indian side has tried to convince the Canadians by reiterating India’s commitments to IAEA safeguards and transparency measures for use of nuclear fuel.
The two countries will still have to sign an agreement, which would see Canada resume nuclear supplies for the first time in almost four decades since it stopped all such exchanges two years after India’s first nuclear test in 1974. Canada’s high commissioner to India Stewart Beck had said that Canada is concerned about where its uranium would go even though India insisted that its reporting directly to IAEA should be sufficient.
Harper said in a statement that this will facilitate opportunities for Canadian companies to play a greater role in meeting India’s growing energy needs. There was no word on whether or not there is a timeline for the implementation of the deal but Australia’s decision to enter into negotiations for a uranium safeguards agreement seems to have played on Canadian minds.
The two countries also agreed to institute a strategic dialogue at the level of foreign ministers.
India and Canada signed a social security pact to relieve their workers from double taxation.
Under the agreement, workers on short- term contracts up to five years will not be required to make any social security contribution in Canada provided they continue to make social security payments in the country of their origin.
The agreement was signed by overseas Indian affairs minister Vayalar Ravi and Canada’s minister of international trade Edward Fast.