Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Thursday spoke to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that stringent safeguards and conditions would be imposed for sale of Australian uranium to India.
Meanwhile, Australia?s chief nuclear adviser Ziggy Switkowski has said he expected a ban on nuclear testing by India to be part of any deal with Australia.
The assertion from the Australian Prime Minister comes even as the Manmohan Singh government is under fire from the Opposition and Left over charges that it was not able to negotiate a satisfactory deal on civilian nuclear cooperation with the US.
According to the MEA spokesperson here, the Australian Prime Minister telephoned Singh on Thursday, during the course of which the two leaders spoke talked about nuclear cooperation between the two countries and Howard conveyed the Australian government?s decision pertaining to the sale of uranium to India. ?The Prime Minister thanked his Australian counterpart and agreed that the issue would be discussed further at the official level,? the spokesperson said.
However agency reports from Melbourne quoted Howard as telling reporters that the sale would be linked to stringent safeguards. ?Australia has decided in principle to export uranium to India, subject to India agreeing to very stringent safeguards and conditions,? Howard said.