Ajit Jain, rediff India Abroad Managing Editor, Canada, who is travelling with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on his first-ever visit to India, talks to Canadian mediapersons on their impressions about the trip.
In a front-page story, Globe and Mail says that if a civilian nuclear agreement is not signed between Canada and India, 'it will be signed soon' and reason, this Canadian daily believes, is "Canada needs India more than India needs Canada".
'The fact remains Canada's hand is weak and India's strong. India and China are two big markets for nuclear energy technology with dozens of new reactors planned or under construction,' argues the Canadian daily's senior columnist John Ibbitson, who is amongst 20-odd Canadian journalists on board Harper's Airbus.
He wouldn't comment on his own column. He was more keen on listening to other reporters' views as they gathered in Hangar 11, near Ottawa Airport for their departure with Harper to Singapore November 12.
What seemed to be the consensus was that there are still differences between Canada and India on the nuclear question and so the agreement may not be signed by the two leaders despite a great deal of progress that the two countries have made on the nuke deal during the last few months.
International Trade Minister Stockwell Day met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh when he went to India in January and he also met the national security adviser. He was very optimistic that the deal would be signed very soon as there were a few minor issues to be clarified.
Haroon Siddiqui, senior columnist for the Toronto Star, has his own memo addressed to Harper, to the Canadian government: 'The US has been wooing India for years. Former US president Bill Clinton went to India in 1999 and George W Bush followed him 'with a real politick gift of a civlian nuclear deal. Russia and France have negotiated their own accord to tap the $100-bllion bonanza of Indian nuclear energy needs."
What would emerge from this important summit? That is the question all scribes are asking. The consensus is that this visit would most certainly strengthen relations between the two countries.
"With India, we are going in the same direction as our relations with the US and the UK" said Parliamentary Secretary to Foreign affairs Minister, Deepak Obhrai.
"Of course our two economies Canada and India is not linked as Canada-US economies."
