Australia's cabinet will reportedly consider within weeks a submission by Foreign Minister Alexander Downer that would allow Australia to sell uranium to India despite the South Asian nation is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
The Australian, one of Australia's leading newspapers, reported Thursday that Downer will ask the cabinet to approve the export of uranium to India.
Australia has been refusing to export Australian uranium to India, although India desperately needs assured supplies of uranium to provide fuel for nuclear reactors that will generate energy to drive its economic boom.
The newspaper said Australia plans to negotiate a nuclear safeguards agreement with India, governing the uses for Australian uranium.
The agreement will be similar to the deals it has struck with other nations to which it exports uranium.
Under the planned agreement, India would separate its peaceful nuclear energy program from its nuclear weapons program and Australian uranium would go only to its peaceful nuclear energy power plants.
The move has been strongly backed by Australian Prime Minister John Howard, but will almost certainly be opposed by federal Labor, Australia's main opposition party, and create a wedge between John Howard and Labor Leader Kevin Rudd ahead of the federal election due later this year, according to the newspaper.
Labor has traditionally argued that selling uranium to India would undermine the NPT.
Source: Xinhua
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