Australia not willing to export uranium to India

Sydney: India is unlikely to get Australian uranium in the near future even as pressure mounts on the Labour government to reverse its ban on uranium exports to India to meet its growing energy demand.

Despite supporting New Delhi at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) over the weekend, Australia has reaffirmed that it will not export uranium to India unless the latter signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"Labour is committed to supplying uranium to only those countries party to the NPT. Australia will, therefore, not be supplying uranium to India," Trade Minister Simon Crean told reporters. The Kevin Rudd government had last November reversed the initiative by the former John Howard-led coalition government to sell uranium to India for its civilian nuclear programme. Australia has 40 per cent of the world's known uranium reserves.

Rory Medcalf, programme director for international security at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney said: "I don't think Australia's position on uranium exports to India will change at least for the current term of this government."

Turning point

Canada's decision to join the consensus in the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) for a special waiver to allow nuclear trade with India is a turning point in the relations between the two countries, says Canadian Foreign Minister David Emerson.

In a statement, the outgoing foreign minister said: "Canada's decision to join the NSG consensus marks a turning point in our relations with India and will help to facilitate a more comprehensive and robust bilateral relationship."

Emerson said India had made "substantial commitments to achieve the trust of the NSG, including a safeguards agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency that will allow the agency to monitor additional civilian nuclear facilities in India."