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India, Canada ink landmark civil nuke cooperation pact | India and Canada on Sunday evening broke new ground historically by signing a landmark civil nuclear cooperation agreement. Welcoming the signing
of the agreement after bilateral talks held here, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan
Singh said in a statement that it "reflects the change in international realities
and will open new doors for mutually beneficial cooperation in nuclear energy."
He further said both countries have identified renewable energy, clean technologies
and energy efficiency as other priority areas of cooperation. He also said that
that the newly constituted Canada-India Energy Forum has New Delhi's full support.
A joint statement issued simultaneously quoted the two Prime Ministers' -- Dr.
Manmohan Singh and Stephen Harper -- as saying that the agreement for cooperation
in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy would facilitate civil nuclear cooperation
between both countries. Both leaders committed themselves to the ratification
of the agreement and the completion of all remaining steps necessary to ensure
early implementation of the pact. Both Singh and Harper underscored the potential
for mutually beneficial civil nuclear cooperation and trade. The agreement provides
for cooperation in areas such as design, construction, maintenance, sharing of
operating experience and decommissioning of nuclear reactors, supply of uranium,
projects in third countries, nuclear fuel cycle and nuclear waste management.
Both sides will also promote cooperation in the use of nuclear energy applications
in the fields of agriculture, healthcare, industry and environment, nuclear safety
and environmental protection. Both countries and their leaderships have recognised
through their agreement that sharing of nuclear energy should be safe, environmentally
friendly and a sustainable source of energy. Both have agreed to work on pressurized
heavy water reactors (PHWRS) and CANDU Reactors. The signing of the agreement
is significant in the fact that Canada was one country that was strongly opposed
to India conducting nuclear tests in 1974 and 1998. It also was not overtly in
favour of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granting a waiver to India after it
had inked a civil nuclear cooperation agreement with the United States in 2008,
while not being a signatory to the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the
Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). |
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