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‘Australia not to supply uranium to India’

* Australian prime minister pledges to protect Indian students

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is visiting India, said on Thursday his country would not supply uranium to India. He said India’s refusal to sign the Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) was a stumbling block to sell uranium.

India has long sought access to Australian uranium ore to meet the energy needs of its rapidly growing economy. Australia maintains a blanket ban in selling uranium to nations that refuse to sign the NPT Treaty. Rudd said the United States, Australian and other nations had worked together in recent years through the international Nuclear Suppliers Group to ensure India could get access to clean energy. He said Australia helped India to get waiver through Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) and International Atomic Energey Agency (IAEA). “On the question of bilateral uranium sales, can I say that our policy remains governed by the provisions of the non-proliferation treaty that has been the case in the past. The non-proliferation treaty and our policy in relation to it as underpinning our attitude to uranium sales is not targeted at any individual country. It has been longstanding Australian government policy,” Rudd said. Rudd, who arrived in India on Wednesday night after an unannounced visit to Australian troops in Afghanistan, also met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Students: The Indian government raised the issue of recent spate of attacks on Indian students studying in Australia. The Australian prime minister said his government was committed to using “full force” of law to protect the students in his country.

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