Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced on Thursday that he had reached an agreement with Australia to supply uranium to his country, the most populous on the planet, which aims to develop its civil nuclear program.
“We have signed an important agreement today on nuclear energy,” Modi said, while on a visit to Australia, after a meeting with his counterpart Anthony Albanese. “This will pave the way for uranium supplies from Australia to India to give a new push to our clean energy goals,” said the Indian prime minister.
According to a joint statement, the agreement between the two countries allows long-term exports of uranium for “exclusively peaceful” purposes.
“This provision will facilitate Australian uranium exports to India to help it increase the share of non-fossil energy capacity,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters after their meeting.
Australia holds 28% of the planet’s uranium, according to the World Nuclear Association, while India (1.4 billion people) seeks to significantly boost its nuclear energy production capacity.
Despite the signing of a bilateral atomic energy agreement in 2015 to pave the way for uranium exports, legal barriers persisted. To such an extent that trade between the two parties is today virtually non-existent.
The ties between Canberra and New Delhi have grown stronger in recent years, driven by a shared desire to curb China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific and to develop trade partnerships outside of China.
As a welcome, Mr Modi is set to be welcomed later Thursday as a star by the Indian diaspora at a stadium in Melbourne, the southeastern city of Australia. Organizers expect more than 20,000 people. In 2023 already, the Indian prime minister had been received in the same way at a large venue in Sydney.
After Australia, the Indian prime minister will continue his trip, this time to New Zealand.
