03-06-2006, 04:18 AM
<b>Indian PM makes bid for uranium</b>
By Greg Sheridan
The Australian
Monday, March 6, 2006
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will ask John Howard to back his nuclear co-operation deal with George W.Bush and to lift the ban on sales of Australian uranium.
On the eve of Mr Howard's visit to India, Mr Singh said he would like to buy uranium from Australia to feed his country's growing appetite for the raw material.
"I hope Australia will be an important partner in this. We are short of uranium. We need to import uranium and our needs will increase in years to come," he told The Australian in an exclusive interview in his official New Delhi residence.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ruled out last week changing the Government's policy of not selling uranium to nations such as India that have refused to sign the UN's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, comments that privately angered Indian officials.
<b>But in an interview before leaving Sydney for New Delhi yesterday, Mr Howard was more accommodating, clearly leaving open the possibility of future co-operation in the sale of uranium to India, if the US-India deal passed through the American political process.</b>
"We're certainly not going to suddenly change our policy just because the Indians and the Americans have reached an agreement," he said. "We'll study it, and if there are things that should additionally be done that are in Australia's interests then we'll do them."
Mr Singh said he planned to ask for Mr Howard's support in getting the US-India deal accepted by the international Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
Under the deal, India puts 65per cent of its nuclear reactors under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In return, it gets access to nuclear technology and fuel and keeps a minority of the reactors involved in its nuclear weapons program.
The US has welcomed the deal, saying it brings India, the world's largest democracy, under the international nuclear regime, helping its future energy needs.
Mr Singh told The Australian: "I very much hope Australia, as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, would endorse what I and President Bush have worked out. This is an arrangement which helps the cause of nuclear non-proliferation. India has an impeccable record of not entering into any unauthorised arms proliferation."
Apart from Mr Downer's comments, the main critical reaction to the India-US deal has come from China, which sees India as a strategic competitor in Asia.
<b>Mr Singh's comments will put Australia under pressure to choose between the new US-India partnership of democracies, and Canberra's traditional adherence to the non-proliferation treaty, which has no method of including any part of India's growing nuclear program in the international regime.</b>
The Americans have argued that the regime needs to be amended to take account of the reality of India's growing international role.
Mr Singh also called for increased defence co-operation between India and Australia.
He nominated protection of sea trade lanes and combating piracy as areas where Australia and India could co-operate more, but he believes co-operation can extend far beyond that.
Security issues have dominated Mr Bush's first tour of South Asia, which wrapped up yesterday in Pakistan, where he praised President Pervez Musharraf for his commitment to the war on terror, but stressed that more work was needed to defeat al-Qa'ida.
"President Musharraf made a bold decision for his people and for peace after September 11 when Pakistan chose to fight terror," Mr Bush said after the leader's dialogue.
The Pakistani leader has survived three assassination attempts since he abandoned Islamabad's support for Afghanistan's Taliban and backed the US-led military operation to topple the ultra-conservative regime.
<b>"Part of my mission today was to determine whether or not the President is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice, and
he is,"</b> Mr Bush said.
Mr Howard will follow Mr Bush to Pakistan, and Mr Singh said he did not believe his country's neighbour was doing enough yet to combat terrorism, and to prevent its territory from being used by terrorists.
He said he hoped that Mr Howard would convey this message to General Musharraf.
Mr Singh said he hoped Mr Howard's visit would take the "very much underdeveloped" bilateral relationship with Australia to a new level.
"We both play cricket, we are members of the Commonwealth, we are English-speaking and now I find there's a growing number of Indian students (25,000) whose preferred destination for education is Australia," he said.
Although Australian trade has grown more rapidly with India than with any other major nation over the past five years, Mr Singh said he believed there was potential for the economic relationship to increase substantially.
"We would like Australian companies to look at the possibility of investing in the exploration and development of India's mineral resources," he said.
He also said he would encourage Indian companies to "take a stake in Australian mineral industries", as well as information technology and other areas.
By Greg Sheridan
The Australian
Monday, March 6, 2006
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will ask John Howard to back his nuclear co-operation deal with George W.Bush and to lift the ban on sales of Australian uranium.
On the eve of Mr Howard's visit to India, Mr Singh said he would like to buy uranium from Australia to feed his country's growing appetite for the raw material.
"I hope Australia will be an important partner in this. We are short of uranium. We need to import uranium and our needs will increase in years to come," he told The Australian in an exclusive interview in his official New Delhi residence.
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer ruled out last week changing the Government's policy of not selling uranium to nations such as India that have refused to sign the UN's Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, comments that privately angered Indian officials.
<b>But in an interview before leaving Sydney for New Delhi yesterday, Mr Howard was more accommodating, clearly leaving open the possibility of future co-operation in the sale of uranium to India, if the US-India deal passed through the American political process.</b>
"We're certainly not going to suddenly change our policy just because the Indians and the Americans have reached an agreement," he said. "We'll study it, and if there are things that should additionally be done that are in Australia's interests then we'll do them."
Mr Singh said he planned to ask for Mr Howard's support in getting the US-India deal accepted by the international Nuclear Suppliers' Group.
Under the deal, India puts 65per cent of its nuclear reactors under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency. In return, it gets access to nuclear technology and fuel and keeps a minority of the reactors involved in its nuclear weapons program.
The US has welcomed the deal, saying it brings India, the world's largest democracy, under the international nuclear regime, helping its future energy needs.
Mr Singh told The Australian: "I very much hope Australia, as a member of the Nuclear Suppliers' Group, would endorse what I and President Bush have worked out. This is an arrangement which helps the cause of nuclear non-proliferation. India has an impeccable record of not entering into any unauthorised arms proliferation."
Apart from Mr Downer's comments, the main critical reaction to the India-US deal has come from China, which sees India as a strategic competitor in Asia.
<b>Mr Singh's comments will put Australia under pressure to choose between the new US-India partnership of democracies, and Canberra's traditional adherence to the non-proliferation treaty, which has no method of including any part of India's growing nuclear program in the international regime.</b>
The Americans have argued that the regime needs to be amended to take account of the reality of India's growing international role.
Mr Singh also called for increased defence co-operation between India and Australia.
He nominated protection of sea trade lanes and combating piracy as areas where Australia and India could co-operate more, but he believes co-operation can extend far beyond that.
Security issues have dominated Mr Bush's first tour of South Asia, which wrapped up yesterday in Pakistan, where he praised President Pervez Musharraf for his commitment to the war on terror, but stressed that more work was needed to defeat al-Qa'ida.
"President Musharraf made a bold decision for his people and for peace after September 11 when Pakistan chose to fight terror," Mr Bush said after the leader's dialogue.
The Pakistani leader has survived three assassination attempts since he abandoned Islamabad's support for Afghanistan's Taliban and backed the US-led military operation to topple the ultra-conservative regime.
<b>"Part of my mission today was to determine whether or not the President is as committed as he has been in the past to bringing these terrorists to justice, and
he is,"</b> Mr Bush said.
Mr Howard will follow Mr Bush to Pakistan, and Mr Singh said he did not believe his country's neighbour was doing enough yet to combat terrorism, and to prevent its territory from being used by terrorists.
He said he hoped that Mr Howard would convey this message to General Musharraf.
Mr Singh said he hoped Mr Howard's visit would take the "very much underdeveloped" bilateral relationship with Australia to a new level.
"We both play cricket, we are members of the Commonwealth, we are English-speaking and now I find there's a growing number of Indian students (25,000) whose preferred destination for education is Australia," he said.
Although Australian trade has grown more rapidly with India than with any other major nation over the past five years, Mr Singh said he believed there was potential for the economic relationship to increase substantially.
"We would like Australian companies to look at the possibility of investing in the exploration and development of India's mineral resources," he said.
He also said he would encourage Indian companies to "take a stake in Australian mineral industries", as well as information technology and other areas.