Australia holding talks on supplying uranium to India: Envoy

KOLKATA: The Australian government is holding negotiations on supplying uranium to India, which should have safeguards for its peaceful use, its envoy said today.

"We are negotiating an agreement to sell uranium to India. Now we have a new policy to sell uranium. But India needs to have safeguards in place so that uranium is used for peaceful purposes," Australian High Commissioner Patrick Suckling told reporters here.

Australia had earlier refused to supply uranium to India since it was not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

But the policy has subsequently been changed by the Labour Party, Suckling said.

Stating that Australia was looking to significantly increasing bilateral trade with India, he said the energy sector, coal in particular, would be an integral part of trade.

"We look forward to a very strong continued growth with India," Suckling said, adding sectors like education, banking and finance held tremendous scope.

"Mining is a also very big sector for us," he said.