PM Narendra Modi and Canadian PM Mark Carney.

India and Canada are getting closer to a major uranium supply agreement. This agreement may be worth approximately 2.8 billion dollars (23.4 thousand crore rupees), under which Canada will supply uranium for about 10 years. Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met during the G20 summit held in Johannesburg on Sunday.

After the meeting of the two, India’s Foreign Ministry said that both the countries reiterated their old civil nuclear partnership and agreed to take it forward. Under this partnership, talks are being held on long term supply of uranium. Uranium will be supplied to India by a Canadian company named Cameco Inc, which is located in the Saskatchewan province of Canada.

Another nuclear deal with Canada?

Cameco had an old agreement with India’s Department of Atomic Energy, which expired in 2020. This agreement came into force in 2015, when Modi met the then Prime Minister Stephen Harper during his visit to Canada.

India got permission to buy uranium from Canada to generate electricity after the Canada-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement came into force in September 2013. Now there are indications that another big nuclear cooperation agreement may also be signed, because India is also showing interest in Small Modular Reactor (SMR) technology.

Partnership between Australia, Canada and India

This conversation on uranium supply is also related to the recently formed Australia-Canada-India Technology and Innovation (ACITI) Partnership. This partnership was announced after the meeting of Modi, Carney and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Johannesburg.

PM Modi wrote on X that this initiative will strengthen cooperation between three continents and three oceans. Its objective is to increase cooperation between the three countries in the development of emerging technology, clean energy, supply chain and AI. Bilateral trade between India and Canada was $22.6 billion in the year 2024. Canada wants to increase it to $70 billion by 2030.