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Australia will have to reverse ban on uranium sale to India |
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The Kevin Rudd-led Australian Labour government will be compelled to reverse its ban on uranium exports to India as one of the pillars of its foreign policy is to enhance cooperation with Asia, says opposition leader Andrew Robb.
The new Labour government in Canberra has clarified that it will not sell uranium to India unless Delhi signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), reversing the initiative by the former John Howard-led coalition government to sell uranium to India for its civilian nuclear programme.
“The Rudd government position is wrong and unsustainable. The decision also reflects confused and inconsistent policy priorities given that one of the supposed three pillars of Rudd’s foreign policy is enhancing relations with Asia,” said Robb, the federal opposition foreign affairs spokesman.
“Ultimately, I expect that the Rudd government will need to reverse this decision not to sell Australian yellowcake to India,” he said on March 30 while speaking on `Australia-India: Strategic Imperatives’ at the Sydney Institute, a not-for-profit current affairs forum.
In January, Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith passed on the Rudd government’s view to Indian special envoy Shyam Saran.
Commenting on it, Robb said, “The decision and the amateur way in which the decision was communicated to the Indian govern¬ment has left a very bitter taste in Indian mouths.”
In August last year, the former Howard government agreed to sell uranium to India subject to the finalisation of a US-India nuclear technology exchange deal and the conclusion of a bilater¬al Australia-India nuclear safeguards agreement.
Robb said, “It was proposed that Australia sell uranium to India according to the identical strict safeguards under which we sell uranium to China and Russia.”
“In years gone by, China has sold nuclear technology to Pakistan and North Korea - unlike India which has abided by the NPT obligations, even from the outside,” he added.
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