India and Canada are reportedly set to commit to boosting energy trade as their energy ministers meet, amid improving diplomatic relations between the two. According to a Bloomberg report, as part of the energy trade push, Canada will export more crude oil, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), and Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), while India will ship a higher volume of refined oil to Canada.
Furthermore, according to a Reuters report, Canada is also looking to supply critical minerals to India. Canadian Energy Minister Tim Hodgson, who is on a diplomatic visit in India, said at the Indian Energy Week Conference that Canada is looking at supplying critical minerals, crude oil and liquefied natural gas to India.
As per the Bloomberg report, Hodgson met with Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister, and they discussed committing higher investment in each other’s energy sectors, including biofuels, batteries, electricity systems, and critical minerals such as Uranium.
FinancialExpress.com could not verify the news independently.
Canadian PM India visit and strategic shift
As per the report, the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to visit India in the first week of March. The Canadian Prime Minister’s tour of India, just weeks after the energy minister’s visit, is critical for diversifying trade relations between the two countries as trade with the United States strains.
Carney and Prime Minister Modi restarted talks in November toward a comprehensive economic partnership agreement. The relaunch of the dialogue signals that both governments see untapped potential and strategic value in increasing an energy relationship.
India- Canada Uranium trade
The total trade between India and Canada reached $9.7 billion in 2024; however, Indian accounted for just 1 per cent of Canada’s critical mineral exports. As India opens its nuclear energy sector to private players, Canada sees an opportunity to increase trade in critical minerals, and India seeks a stable supply of Uranium, a key component of nuclear energy production.
According to a Reuters report, as part of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and Canada, which will be negotiated in March upon Carney’s India visit, India is likely ot sign a 10-year agreement worth 2.8 billion Canadian dollars for the supply of uranium.
“We know that India is a major nuclear country and it has major plans to grow its civilian use of nuclear energy,” Reuters earlier quoted Hodgson as saying. “So that would be one of the topics I expect that we will discuss with my counterpart,” he added.