India-Canada– a new chapter

Mumbai, India: Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper has arrived in Mumbai at the start of a three-day visit to India.  The trip, according to Harper, is significant because his Conservative government will now seek to re-engage India in a manner previous Canadian governments have not attempted since the 1970s.

Harper comes to India from Singapore after attending the APEC summit. This will be his first visit to India since taking office almost four years ago.

Harper is accompanied by a high-powered official delegation, the composition of which reflects his intention to develop a comprehensive and holistic relationship with India.

It is expected that the visit will result in an agreement that will allow Canadian firms to sell civilian nuclear technology to India. Also, on the cards is a Foreign Investment Protection and Promotion Agreement that will seek to safeguard investor rights in both countries.

'Buddha Smiles' and thereafter...
Harper's visit seeks to de-frost a relationship that turned decidedly icy when India conducted its first 'Buddha Smiles' nuclear test on 18 May 1974, with plutonium taken from a reactor built from a Canadian design and technical help.

Then Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, immediately quarantined exchange of all nuclear material and technology with India and the rest of the world's nuclear powers banded together to form an organization called the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) tasked with the responsibility to monitor and regulate trade in nuclear materials.