FP-Bloomberg on Canada-India deal India’s deal to buy uranium from Canadian producer Cameco Corp. will be unveiled Wednesday as Ottawa hosts the first visit of a prime minister from the Asian country in a generation, a person with knowledge of the talks said.
The accord is scheduled to be announced in the morning, the person said, asking not to be named because the agreement isn’t public yet. India Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached the Canadian capital as part of a three-day visit.
Expectation the deal championed by Modi may be signed has stirred wariness among Canadians. An Internet survey from the Angus Reid Institute published Tuesday showed 60 per cent of respondents oppose helping develop India’s nuclear energy industry.
Cameco, based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, has been in talks to sell uranium to India, and Modi has said a deal is one of the priorities of his Canadian trip. Rob Gereghty, a Cameco spokesman, declined to comment on a possible agreement.
S.K. Malhotra, a spokesman at India’s Department of Atomic Energy, which oversees the nation’s nuclear program, declined to say whether a deal was reached.
“As far as uranium is concerned, the more the merrier for us,” Malhotra said. “It’s important for us to hedge geopolitical risks and ensure supplies to our reactors.”
India’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Syed Akbaruddin couldn’t be reached at his office phone.
‘Very Hopeful’
Cameco, which was raised to outperform at BMO Capital Markets earlier this month, declined almost 3 per cent on April 14 after gaining over the prior three days.
Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall is also travelling to Ottawa on Wednesday. “We’re very hopeful, I’ll say that,” he said in an interview Tuesday, while declining to say if an accord was reached.
Modi arrived Tuesday evening and will meet with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston on Wednesday morning, according to an itinerary from the Indian government. Modi will go to Toronto Wednesday evening, staying there until leaving for Vancouver Thursday, the final stop of his three-day visit.
Pension Funds
Modi is scheduled to meet with pension funds, business leaders and members of Canada’s Indian community during his trip, according to the itinerary.
Modi said last month on his Facebook page that he looked forward to “sourcing uranium fuel for our nuclear power plants” during his Canadian trip, the first by an Indian Prime Minister in over 40 years.
Harper’s office has said the countries intend to focus on boosting cooperation on economic issues, counter-terrorism and energy. India and Canada signed a nuclear cooperation agreement in 2012 that took effect the following year.
The accord allows trade in nuclear material, equipment and technology between the two countries, Stephen Lecce, a spokesman for Harper, said in an e-mail last week. “It is up to businesses to complete commercial contracts,” he said.
India has 13 reactors under IAEA safeguards. These reactors account for almost 60 per cent of India’s installed 5,780 megawatts nuclear generation capacity. Another 1,000 megawatts reactor being built in southern state of Tamil Nadu with Russian technology will join the band of reactors under the international nuclear watchdog. The nation plans to raise its nuclear generation capability to 10,080 megawatts by 2019.
The nation has uranium supply accords with Russia, Kazakhstan, France, and Uzbekistan and is pursuing agreements with more nations to fuel the plants monitored by IAEA.
Favorable View
The Angus Reid poll of 1,475 respondents showed 70 per cent of Canadians have a favourable view of India, while 58 per cent believe Harper should pursue a free-trade pact with the country.
The poll used responses from an online panel and has no formal margin of error, though Angus Reid estimated the comparative margin for a poll of this sample size would be within 2.6 per cent, 19 times out of 20.
More respondents favoured pursuing ties with China than with India, when asked to choose between the two countries. The poll also found 78 per cent of Canadians, presented with a photo of Modi, were unable to identify him.
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