India, Canada to finalise nuclear agreement soon: Gavai

Bal Krishna

Toronto, May 27 (PTI) India and Canada will soon finalise
the civilian nuclear cooperation agreement that will pave the
way for new opportunities for both the countries, a senior
Indian diplomat has said.

"Both the countries have already exchanged the draft
agreement. An expert Canadian team was in Mumbai last week to
workout, with the Atomic Energy Commission of India, final
technical details and conditions under which business can be
done," S M Gavai, Indian High Commissioner to Canada said.

Gavai, commending Canada's efforts to sign a nuclear pact
with India, said: "We want to make sure that the proposed
Canada-India nuclear agreement is equitable and non-
discriminatory and both the countries work on the same
wavelength."

"Canadian firms, including federally-owned Atomic Energy
of Canada Ltd, Cameco Corp and SNC-Lavalin are eager to forge
joint ventures or work with Indian firms to help build
billion-dollar nuclear reactors and supply uranium," Gavai
said.

He added that India is in favour of early implementation
of Canada-India Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection
Agreement and stressed on the need for facilitating greater
engagement between small and medium enterprises of the two
countries.

Gavai was delivering a key note address on 'Why India
matters for Canadian Companies looking to survive and
succeed', which was attended by over 100 top executives of
Canadian companies.

The event was organised by Export Development Corporation
(EDC) of Canada and Canada-India Business Council (C-IBC).

Joseph Caron, High Commissioner of Canada to India, said
that the Harper government has ambitious agenda for India.

Urging Canadian companies to consider emerging business
opportunities in India, Caron said there are three reasons for
investing in India.

"Firstly, its high growth (7.5 per cent to 12 per cent in
manufacturing sector and 8 per cent to 14 per cent in service
sector); secondly India has developed business outsourcing
capability (USD 47 billion exports from India with USD 30
billion investment) and thirdly its macro-economic growth like
demographic factors, subsidies on fertilizers and rise in
agriculture product prices."

"These factors were in favour of long-term Canadian
investment in India where the risk on investment was minimum
compared to other emerging economies," Caron added.

Referring to Free Trade Agreement between the countries,
Gavai said that there were a number of areas in which both
countries have different perceptions and a working group was
being set up to resolve the differences.

He said that India would soon undertake major economic
reforms that would boost economic growth and prepare the
country to face challenges of 21st century. PTI