Australia repeats not to sell Uranium to India

Few days after Canberra's declaration not to sell Uranium to India despite NSG waiver, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith, who is on his five-day visit to India said on Thursday in New Delhi that his government is bound to the Non-proliferation Treaty commitment, which prohibits supply of Uranium to non-NPT signatory.

“We have a long standing commitment to NPT and we don’t want to do anything undermining NPT. It is not aimed at India but is a domestic party political approach,” said Stephen Smith, adding that this should not deter the two countries from concluding ties as they are on the verge of taking their relationship to a “new level.”

“Uranium is only one commodity, a small part, but the bilateral relations between India and Australia are beyond that,” he said.

He met Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh here last evening and is scheduled to meet and discuss bilateral relations with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday.

“Australia and India remain committed to addressing the critical challenge of nuclear non- proliferation and disarmament about which each of our two Prime Ministers have spoken publicly. We share an ultimate objective of nuclear disarmament and both nations have very good records on non-proliferation. Nuclear weapons do pose a threat to humanity and the challenge of nuclear proliferation can only be addressed through effective multilateral action. That is why Australia has established an international commission on nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament,” Smith said.

After delivering a speech at the Indian Council of World Affairs on 'Australia and India: A new partnership in the Asia Pacific Century' on Thursday evening, when he was asked about Australia's and other NSGs cartel support to India notwithstanding the latter is not a signatory to NPT, Smith replied what meant was: Concession was shown to India owing to its rising global status.

While Pakistan, which is clamouring for same concession as NSG has granted to India, will never ever, as Smith remarked, be given to any other country in the near future.

The Australian Foreign Minister said that Australia backed India both at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on August 1 and later at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) special session in Vienna from September 4 to 6 when the 45-member cartel granted India-specific waiver, lifting a 34-year-old ban on nuclear trade with international community.

But he said his country's domestic policy did not allow us to supply Uranium to non-NPT signatories, but he hinted that there might be cooperation between the two sides on dual-use technologies. “This also does not disturb Australia's ongoing approach to consider, on a case-by-case basis, applications for the export of dual-use items,” he said.