Australia to sign uranium trade deal with India
Australia’s prime minister said on Wednesday that he will sign a uranium export deal with India for peaceful power generation this week, but added that exports of the nuclear fuel to Russia have been banned until further notice.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament he would sign a nuclear cooperation agreement with newly elected Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a three-day visit to Mumbai and New Delhi which officially starts Thursday.
Abbott declared an official end to the uranium trade with Russia in response to a call from the minor Greens party for uranium to be included in trade sanctions triggered by Russian military intervention in Ukraine.
Australia, which holds almost a third of the world’s known uranium reserves, imposes strict conditions on uranium export contracts and India’s failure to sign the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty had long been a barrier to any trade deal.
Abbott had argued that India was more worthy of such a trade deal which prohibits use of Australian uranium in weapons or to power nuclear submarines than Russia.
Source: et
