Thaindian News

Melbourne/Banglaore, Nov 15 (IANS) In a dramatic policy reversal, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Tuesday signalled a plan to lift a long-standing ban on uranium sales to India and pushed her Labour Party to change its stance, citing New Delhi’s growing economy and its ambitious atomic energy plans.

India quickly hailed the move, saying it was a recognition of its “impeccable non-proliferation credentials” and growing energy needs.

In a surprise turnaround, Gillard wrote a column in leading Australian dailies in which she pushed for lifting an embargo that has shadowed relations with the world’s biggest democracy.

“We must, of course, expect of India the same standards we do of all countries for uranium export - strict adherence to International Atomic Energy Agency arrangements and strong bilateral and transparency measures which will provide assurances our uranium will be used only for peaceful purposes,” Gillard wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

For the past four years, the Labour government has linked uranium exports to India signing the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. New Delhi refuses to sign the NPT as it considers it discriminatory and a ploy to deprive it of its nuclear deterrence.

In the end, however, stronger relations with a democratic India armed with a growing economy seem to have won the day.

“It is time for (ruling) Labor to modernize our platform and enable us to strengthen our connection with dynamic, democratic India,” Gillard said ahead of the Labour Party’s conference next month.

Gillard also held a press conference in Melbourne and pushed her colleagues in the ruling Labour Party to change their stand on selling uranium India and cited three reasons for doing so.

Firstly, Gillard argued that selling uranium to India “will be good for the Australian economy and good for Australian jobs”.

Gillard went on to add that India plans to increase the share of nuclear power from its current three percent of electricity generation to 40 percent by 2050 - a fact that should benefit Australia which is the world’s third largest supplier of uranium. Uranium contributes over $750 million to the Australian economy, creating over 4,200 jobs.

Secondly, she said the uranium sale will be “another step forward” in Australia’s relationship with India, the world’s largest democracy and a rising economic giant.

Thirdly, she argued that the US-India civil nuclear agreement has effectively lifted the de-facto international ban on cooperation with India in this area and added that in view of changed global circumstances, “for us to refuse to budge is all pain with no gain and I believe that our national platform should recognise that reality”.

India, which has been pressing Australia to lift the ban since the Nuclear Suppliers Group opened its doors for global nuclear commerce in September 2008, was quick to hail the new initiative that seeks to remove the last diplomatic thorn in bilateral relations.

“We understand that Julia Gillard proposes to seek a change in the ruling Labour Party’s policy on sale of uranium to India in recognition of our energy needs, the impeccable record of our non-proliferation treaty (NPT) accord and strategic partnership on this,” Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna told reporters in Bangalore Tuesday.

Welcoming the initiative, Krishna said India attached great importance to its relations with Australia, which are growing across the board.

“Energy is one of the key areas of our bilateral cooperation,” he said.

The reversal in Canberra’s stand appears to have come after some straight talk between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Gillard on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Cannes earlier this month.

The uranium sale has been a sore point in India’s relations with Australia for some time.

Although New Delhi denied it, many leading Australian dailies attributed Manmohan Singh’s absence from the Commonwealth summit in Perth last month as a way of conveying its annoyance with Canberra on the uranium issue.

However, the left-wing parties have already trained guns on Gillard for her planned change in policy.

Australian Greens Party head Bob Brown warned lifting the uranium export ban would lead to the “nuclear arms race”.

Gillard has, however, received support from her cabinet colleagues as Trade Minister Craig Emerson advocated selling uranium to India to boost Australian jobs.