Inking the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement paves the way for Canadian uranium to reach India

The governments of India and Canada have taken another step towards full implementation of their bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA), paving the way for Canadian uranium to reach India. Joe Oliver, federal minister of natural resources, announced yesterday that officials from the two countries had signed an ‘Appropriate Arrangement’ as part of the nuclear agreement. He said so at the headquarters of Canada’s largest uranium producer, Cameco Corporation, in Saskatoon, a city in the province of Saskatchewan.

The mining industry will have to wait till at least the monsoon session of Parliament for passage of the new Mines and Mineral Development and Regulation (MMDR) Bill. The legislation is being examined by a parliamentary standing committee.

In an interview here with Business Standard, the secretary in the ministry of mines, Vishwapati Trivedi, ruled out earlier passage of the Bill. “The Budget session starts on March 12 and I think the standing committee has not yet completed its deliberations. So, there’s no way we can get it in the Budget session,” he said.