New Delhi, March 2 With India and Canada finalizing a key agreement on uranium supply, the Congress said on Monday that this was only possible due to the 2008 India-US nuclear agreement, which was signed as a result of then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's insistence and persistence.
India and Canada finalized key agreements on uranium and critical mineral supply and vowed to soon conclude a comprehensive economic partnership agreement. This followed extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, here.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications, Jairam Ramesh, said that India and Canada have signed an agreement on uranium supply and cooperation in building small modular reactors.
He pointed out that after India's first commercial nuclear reactor, supplied by the US company GE at Tarapur in Maharashtra, Canada was assisting India in setting up heavy water reactors at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, and other places.
This assistance was stopped after the peaceful nuclear explosion at Pokhran on May 18, 1974, Ramesh said on X.
These reactors were actually called CANDU reactors for Canada Deuterium Uranium, he said.
"The agreement that Canada and India have signed today has been made possible ONLY because of the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement finally signed in Oct 2008. This agreement was ENTIRELY because of Dr. Manmohan Singh's insistence and persistence. The agreement had been vehemently opposed by the BJP then," Ramesh said on X.
In a media statement after the talks, Modi said, "In civil nuclear energy, we have signed a landmark deal for long-term uranium supply. We will also work together on small modular reactors and advanced reactors."
Carney described the uranium supply agreement as a reflection of shared commitment to clean, reliable energy.