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Sign NPT, Rudd tells India
Melbourne: Ruling out sale of uranium to India until it signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT), Australia on Monday announced the setting up of a global body for nuclear disarmament, hoping to rope in like-minded countries.Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd announced the creation of the Nuclear Non-proliferations and Disarmament Commission during his visit to Japan after laying a wreath in Hiroshima, the site of the first atomic bombings in 1945. The commission, to be co-chaired by the former Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, would examine the work of the Australia-led Canberra Commission and Japans Tokyo Forum to develop a plan of action for the NPT review conference in 2010. The first task of the commission would be to report to a major international conference of experts in Australia late next year. Australia has the largest known uranium reserves in the world. We can, therefore, understand the different concerns that different countries bring to this debate, Mr. Rudd said, denying that the plan was a way to allow Australia to sell uranium to India. He said he understood the Indian arguments. The U.S. administration had also pleaded Indias case. But the Labor party was firmly behind the NPT. India would not be able to circumvent it by joining the commission as the commission that Im proposing is a non-government body, he was quoted as saying by The Australian. Japanwould be asked to take part, as would other nations, Mr. Rudd told students at the Kyoto University Posted by: john frum 2008-06-10 |
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