India and Australia hope to sign the much-awaited nuclear cooperation agreement during Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s visit to India. Abbott will reach India on Thursday and on Friday the two countries are expected to ink the deal that would allow Australia to sell uranium to India to meet its energy needs for the nuclear power reactors.
Senior official in Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Sanjay Bhattacharya said India is looking at a long-term supply of uranium and gas from Australia. “We are expecting a significant outcome from the visit,” added Bhattacharya.
In Sydney, Abbott too sounded positive about the deal. “I am hoping to sign a nuclear cooperation agreement that will enable uranium sales by Australia to India,” Abbott told Australian Parliament prior to his departure to India. India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but Abbott stressed that Australia will ensure adequate safeguards, in the form of bilateral safeguards, before any deal is signed. Abbott added that if Australia was prepared to sell uranium to Russia then “surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards” while pointing out India was a “fully functioning democracy with the rule of law”.
India and Australia have already held five rounds of negotiations on this since 2009. Australia holds about a third of the world’s recoverable uranium resources, and exports nearly 10,000 tonnes annually. The agreement with India is expected to double overall exports to a billion dollars annually by 2018, according to reports. Besides uranium and gas, Australia is also a major source of resources like zinc, gold, and coal.
Abbott will be the first head of the Government to visit India after NDA formed the new Government in May this year. Though the leaders of SAARC nations had visited India during Narendra Modi’s swearing-in ceremony, there were no bilateral or delegation-level talks with them then.
India sees Australia as an important strategic and business partner. Recently, Australia had supported India at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) meeting in Geneva, where India refused to sign the agreement citing its food security programme.
While backing India’s view on need for food security for fighting poverty, Australia had insisted India’s concerns on food security cannot be ignored, leaving the United States of America and several other western powers disappointed.
During his tour to India, Abbott will be accompanied by a 30-member business delegation besides his Trade Minister Andrew Robb. Discussion on wide-ranging issues of international, regional, bilateral importance, including cooperation in key areas of security, defence, counter-terrorism, education, health and trade, is scheduled during his visit. As part of water partnership in terms of river basin management, Australia has expressed interest in helping India with its “Clean Ganga mission.”
Abbott will also meet cricketers Sachin Tendulkar, Adam Gilchrist and Brett lee in Mumbai on Thursday. The Aussie PM will visit a cricket camp for children at the Cricket Club of India (CCI) grounds. India is exploring a possibility to have an exhibition of “Don Bradman Memorabilia” in India next year. The exhibits would include the first bat used in a Test match by Sir Don, and some of the cricket gears used by him.