India, Canada aim for trade pact by year end, agree uranium deal

Bilateral trade expected to hit $50bn by 2030, says Indian PM Narendra Modi as he hosts his Canadian counterpart, Mark Carney, in New Delhi.

India and Canada will aim to conclude a free trade ⁠pact by ⁠the end of this year, says Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, as the ⁠two countries seek to boost economic ties after two years of a strained relationship.

Speaking after talks with Carney, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said the two countries would soon finalise a “comprehensive economic partnership” which is expected to increase bilateral trade to $50bn by 2030 from nearly $9bn in 2024-25.

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India and Canada began advancing negotiations on a long-pending trade agreement last year. Carney said the two sides were aiming to conclude the deal by the end of the year.

“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight,” he said on his first official trip to New Delhi.

The two sides also agreed on a $2.6bn uranium deal and will work on building small modular nuclear reactors and advanced reactors.

“In civil nuclear energy, we have concluded a landmark deal for the long-term supply of uranium,” Modi said.

The Indian government and Canada’s Cameco have signed a uranium supply agreement to support India’s nuclear ambitions and ⁠to work towards a clean, reliable base load ⁠power, Carney added.

The two countries would also work to strengthen defence industries and enhance maritime domain awareness, Modi said.

Carney’s four-day visit to India is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused the Modi government of orchestrating a deadly campaign against suspected Sikh separatist activists in Canada, accusations New Delhi rejected as “absurd”.

The dispute deepened and led to expulsions of diplomats and the freezing of trade negotiations.

“There has been more engagement between the Canadian and Indian governments in the last year than there has been in more than two decades combined,” Carney said in a speech alongside Modi.

“This is not merely the renewal of a relationship. It is the expansion of a valued partnership with new ambition, focus, and foresight, a partnership between two confident countries charting our own course for the future.”

Both India and Canada are looking to diversify trade away from the United States due to tariff announcements and deepen cooperation in areas such as clean energy, critical minerals and agricultural value chains.

India sealed a ‌free-trade pact with the European Union in January, while it recently paused negotiations with the US on a proposed deal, hoping to resume ‌once ‌there is greater clarity following the invalidation of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.