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Howard ready to re-examine uranium policy with India
Prime Minister John Howard has arrived in India for a three-day visit where he is expected to be asked to consider changing Australia's policy on exporting uranium to the South Asian giant. According to newspaper reports, India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will ask Mr Howard to change Australia's position in the light of the United States last week signing a nuclear co-operation deal with India.

Australia currently does not sell uranium to nuclear-armed India because it has refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
This will change if Bush persuades the Congress to go along with the deal he's struck with the Indians.
Mr Howard has told reporters on his arrival in New Delhi that he is willing to re-examine the policy. "We are interested in the agreement that's been struck between the United States and India," he said. "We do have long-standing policy of only selling uranium to countries that are part of the NPT regime, but we'll have a look at a bit more information about that and we'll further assess it.

"Australia does have large supplies of uranium, we have some of the largest uranium deposits in the world, and provided the rules are followed and the safeguards are met, we are willing to sell."

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Friday that while he welcomes a nuclear deal between India and the United States, it will not lead Australia to sell uranium to India. "If we were to export uranium to India, that would constitute a significant shift in our policy. I mean, it would open up questions of whether we'd export uranium to countries like Israel and Pakistan as well," he told AM last week.
Easy: Israel yes, Pakistan no.
"And I think it's probably easier for us to support the current policy. It's probably better for us to give all the support we can to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."
Posted by: Steve White 2006-03-06
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=144594