The Canadian province of Saskatchewan, which is central to plans to enhance cooperation with India in rare earth elements and uranium supplies, is open to exploring joint ventures and investments to explore and process minerals and work on food security projects, Premier Scott Moe said.
Mo, a member of the delegation that accompanied Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his recent visit to India to rebuild bilateral ties and diversify trade and supply chains, said in an interview with HT that Saskatchewan is looking forward to the scheduled conclusion of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by the end of this year to push the region’s trade with India.
The Indian Department of Atomic Energy and Canada’s Cameco, one of the largest publicly traded uranium companies, signed a $1.9 billion agreement to supply 22 million pounds of uranium ore over nine years during Carney’s visit. All of the uranium ore produced by Canada, the world’s second-largest producer, comes from mines in Saskatchewan, making Mo very optimistic about the agreement.
“The uranium agreement is massive – something we’ve been working on alongside our industry and Cameco. Saskatchewan provides about 20% of the global uranium supply and we’re happy to see this agreement – it’s long-term security for our uranium mining companies, but it’s also energy security for India,” Moe said.
The new agreement replaces a five-year agreement starting in 2015 and is ten times the value of the previous agreement. “[This] It is a convention double in length and close to three times the size. It is a much larger agreement and has the potential to be flexible and grow to larger sizes, and be an opportunity for greater energy security through nuclear power. [in India] We also see a goal of building 100 gigawatts of nuclear power by 2047.”
The two countries also signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in exploration, mining and processing of critical minerals, and Moe said Saskatchewan, a strong rare earths hub, is open to joint ventures and investments to develop the sector.
“There are other important minerals that we mine in Saskatchewan and foreign investment is coming in as parts of those projects. We have a copper mine and a potash mine under construction. We have an aluminum discovery that is moving through the solidification process. Add to that lithium and helium – there are many opportunities in the future for us to work together,” Moe said. He noted that the Saskatchewan Research Council has an advanced zero-waste rare earth processing facility and added, “We have the intellectual property in the machinery, but there is the ability to use India’s expertise to expand at a rapid pace and lend that technology to allow for some rare earth processing capacity in a country like India and other countries.”
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Mo was also excited about plans to establish an Indo-Canadian Pulse Protein Center of Excellence in Haryana, given Saskatchewan’s role as a global leader in legume production and innovation. The new center aims to enhance pulse protein processing and development of fortified foods, while improving access to affordable, high-quality nutrition.
“The center can provide food security to students, mothers and families, which is a commitment made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Saskatchewan and Canada can be part of providing this food security by providing pulses,” he said, noting that his province’s trade in peas and lentils has been affected by Indian tariffs.
Moe said the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, which India and Canada expect to finalize by the end of the year, is the “clear next step” to grow the trade relationship between Saskatchewan and Canada, especially for the agri-food, natural resources and rare earth industries. “It was very ambitious for the two Prime Ministers to talk about getting an outcome to this agreement this calendar year, but it should be an indication to the business and investment community that the two Prime Ministers are serious about moving forward in deepening trade relations,” he said.
“I think so [target of] Doubling two-way trade by 2030 is an impressive target. However, I also believe it is completely achievable and we can go beyond it as well, referring to the two sides’ plans to grow bilateral trade to $50 billion by 2030. India-Canada trade in goods will be worth nearly $10 billion in 2024, while trade in services will be worth about $14.5 billion in the same period.
