Modi clinches landmark uranium supply deal with Australia

New Delhi (TIP):India and Australia concluded a landmark deal on Thursday, July 9, for the supply of uranium to boost New Delhi’s nuclear power programme and agreed to deepen cooperation in defence, maritime security, critical minerals and energy as Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Anthony Albanese pledged to strengthen stability and a rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region.
Modi and Albanese met in Melbourne on the second leg of the Indian PM’s three-nation tour and unveiled an expansive agenda for bolstering strategic cooperation and coordination between the two Quad member states. Modi’s visit is aimed at deepening economic and security cooperation with key Indo-Pacific countries against the backdrop of China’s assertive actions in the region and geopolitical churn on the global stage.
Following their talks, Modi and Albanese announced the arrangement that will facilitate the long-term supply of Australian uranium to India’s nuclear energy industry, a new joint declaration on defence and security, a maritime security collaboration roadmap, joint measures to strengthen energy security, and a partnership for cyber, critical technologies and supply chains.
The two sides also agreed to speed up negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) to build on the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement, or interim trade deal, signed in 2022, and to move forward on a bilateral investment treaty.
Modi noted at a joint media interaction that India and Australia are important ocean powers with a common worldview and said: “Together, we will further strengthen peace, stability, freedom of navigation and a rules-based order throughout the Indo-Pacific region.”
The important agreement in nuclear energy “will open the way for uranium supplies from Australia” and give new impetus to India’s clean energy objectives, Modi said.
“Australia and India are close partners and even closer friends,” Albanese said.
“With new landmark agreements, we are expanding our relationship across defence and security, education, science and technology, energy security and critical minerals.”
Albanese said the administrative arrangement under the bilateral Nuclear Cooperation Agreement that came into force in 2015 will enable uranium exports for peaceful purposes. “The arrangement facilitates Australian uranium exports to India to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity, providing an additional market for the Australian resources sector,” he said.
The leaders didn’t provide a timeframe for the exports or details of how much uranium would be supplied. Australia has the world’s largest uranium reserves — almost a third of the global total — but has made only one shipment of uranium to India, in 2017. Exports were held up because of concerns about the diversion of uranium to the weapons programme and Australia’s fragmented regulatory landscape — the federal government doesn’t prohibit uranium mining, while several states don’t allow full-scale mining.