Melbourne: Days after making it clear that it will not sell uranium to India which is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Australian government has expressed confidence that its strict policy on the issue would not affect ties with New Delhi.
The ruling Labour party's policy on uranium sales will not affect Australia's relationship with India as well as ongoing efforts to further enhance it, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said.
"India is aware of the government's policy to supply uranium only to countries which are members of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT)," Smith was quoted as saying by The Age.
"Australia's relationship with India and further progress in that relationship does not depend on uranium sales," he said.
The Kevin Rudd government had signalled stronger ties with the economic powerhouse were one of its top foreign policy priorities.
Despite this ambition, the ruling labour government last week stated that it had no intention of changing its policy of only selling uranium to countries, which are party to the NPT.
During talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Special Envoy Shyam Saran last week, Foreign Minister Smith stated Labour’s long-standing policy of not allowing uranium sales to countries who would not sign NPT.
The previous Howard government was in favour of selling uranium to India.
Labour is still considering whether to back India at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in connection with the Indo-US civil nuclear deal. Saran sought Australian support during his meeting with Smith but was told the new government had not yet made up its mind.
"The Australian government has not come to a concluded view on (this matter)," Smith said, adding "we will give consideration to those matters and will do that in an orderly way, having listened to the views of the Indian government ... (and) the United States government."
Comments
0 comment