Australia could soon start exporting uranium to India: Minister

Melbourne: Australia could soon start exporting uranium to India, Australian Trade Minister Andrew Robb has said.

Robb said he believed Australian uranium sales to India were very close. The Trade Minister`s comments come after he attended a G20 trade ministers meeting in Sydney last week and held talks with an Indian trade delegation. Australia holds about a third of the world`s recoverable uranium resources, and exports nearly 7,000 tonnes a year. Energy-starved India is looking to nuclear power to supplement its existing options to fuel economic growth. India has already concluded civil nuclear cooperation agreements with countries like Argentina and Kazakhstan. India and Australia announced their intention to engage in talks on cooperation in civil nuclear energy during Prime Minister Julia Gillard`s visit to India in October 2012. This was preceded by the Australian Labour Party in December 2011 voting to lift a longstanding ban on the sale of uranium to India, which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.