Conservative leader Stephen Harper said the agreement would allow Canadian firms to export and import controlled nuclear materials, equipment and technology to and from India.

"Increased collaboration with India’s civilian nuclear energy market will allow Canadian companies to benefit from greater access to one of the world’s largest and fastest expanding economies," Harper said during a meeting with India’s Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, following the Commonwealth heads of government meeting in the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

In a statement issued Saturday, Harper said Canada and India will now take the necessary steps to finalize and implement the agreement, which will open up the lucrative Indian market to Canadian nuclear exports for the first time in more than three decades.

Trade Minister Stockwell Day announced earlier this year that government-owned Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. had signed a memorandum of understanding with India for next-generation nuclear reactors.

It was a turning point for Canada, which stopped nuclear co-operation with India in 1974 after its government used plutonium from a Canadian reactor to build an atomic bomb.