Oz PM pitches uranium sale

Tony Abbott will arrive in Delhi on September 4 to strengthen strategic partnership between the two countries

Ahead of his visit to India, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Tuesday strongly supported sealing of the muchawaited uranium export deal with the country under “suitable safeguards”.

“I make the point if we are prepared to sell uranium to Russia, and we’ve been prepared to do that in the past, surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards,” Mr Abbott said.

“India is a full function- ing democracy with the rule of law,” he said, adding that his government was working with India to put suitable safeguards in place.

He said Australia should be prepared to provide “support” and that is what his upcoming visit would be all about.

Mr Abbott will arrive in Delhi on September 4.

Earlier, Australian trade minister Andrew Robb, who will accompany Mr Abbott on his India visit, said, “We have satisfied ourselves that the steps are in place.”

Media reports recently said the two sides have reached the deal on the civil nuclear agreement, which will be formally signed by Prime Minister Abbott during his visit.

The negotiations between the two sides have been on since 2012 after Labour party reversed its decision to ban the uranium sale to India because New Delhi has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

“The negotiations and work that’s gone on between authorities in India and Australia have gone on for some years to develop a bilateral nuclear cooperation agreement which meets the international requirements and we are satisfied, our officials are satisfied that all the requirements have been met,” Mr Robb said in a radio interview.