Australian PM Tony Abbott arrives in India, nuclear deal likely on agenda
6 Sept 2014 4:20 AM IST
Prime minister Abbott landed in the financial capital, his first port of call, on a day-long visit during which he will interact with business leaders and select Indian CEOs.
He will also attend the launch of the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan in India and be present for felicitation of young cricketers by Oz cricket greats Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee at Cricket Club of India. India’s cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar will also attend the ceremony.
Abbott is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of sports but details of the MoU have not been disclosed so far.
He will also lay a wreath at the memorial for the victims of 26/11 attacks at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, one of the scenes of the ghastly terror assault in 2008.
A big-ticket item on Abbott’s agenda as he leaves for the national capital in the evening, however, would be a civil nuclear deal with India efforts for which have been underway since 2012 after Labor party reversed its decision to ban the sale of uranium to India because of New Delhi not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
‘I am hoping to sign a nuclear co-operation agreement that will enable uranium sales by Australia to India,’ he told parliament on the eve of his visit to India.
Abbott had said on Tuesday that if Australia was prepared to sell uranium to Russia then ‘surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards’, noting it was a ‘fully functioning democracy with the rule of law’.
India is not a signatory to the NPT, but Abbott has stressed that Australia will ensure adequate bilateral safeguards before any deal is signed.
He will also attend the launch of the Australian government’s New Colombo Plan in India and be present for felicitation of young cricketers by Oz cricket greats Adam Gilchrist and Brett Lee at Cricket Club of India. India’s cricket icon Sachin Tendulkar will also attend the ceremony.
Abbott is expected to sign a Memorandum of Understanding in the field of sports but details of the MoU have not been disclosed so far.
He will also lay a wreath at the memorial for the victims of 26/11 attacks at Hotel Taj Mahal Palace, one of the scenes of the ghastly terror assault in 2008.
A big-ticket item on Abbott’s agenda as he leaves for the national capital in the evening, however, would be a civil nuclear deal with India efforts for which have been underway since 2012 after Labor party reversed its decision to ban the sale of uranium to India because of New Delhi not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
‘I am hoping to sign a nuclear co-operation agreement that will enable uranium sales by Australia to India,’ he told parliament on the eve of his visit to India.
Abbott had said on Tuesday that if Australia was prepared to sell uranium to Russia then ‘surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards’, noting it was a ‘fully functioning democracy with the rule of law’.
India is not a signatory to the NPT, but Abbott has stressed that Australia will ensure adequate bilateral safeguards before any deal is signed.
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