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Australia to export uranium soon, says Turnbull as he meets Modi
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SME Times News Bureau | 11 Apr, 2017
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday said his country
would begin exporting uranium to India "as soon as possible" as he held
talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi during which both sides
also agreed to deepen cooperation in defence and security as well as in
education.
"We've worked closely with India to meet our
respective requirements for the provision of fuel for India's civil
nuclear programme, and we look forward to the first export of Australian
uranium to India as soon as possible," Turnbull said in his media
statement after holding bilateral talks with Modi.
Modi, in his
statement, said with the passing of legislation in the Australian
Parliament with bipartisan support, Australia is "now ready to export
uranium to India".
The joint statement said India welcomed the
passage of the Civil Nuclear Transfers to India Act by the Australian
Parliament, which could ensure commercial exports of Australian uranium
begins soon.
In September 2014, India and Australia signed a Civil Nuclear Agreement for Australian supply of uranium to India.
In
December last year, Australian Parliament passed a law to allow the
supply of uranium to India. The commercial deals for the supply of
uranium are being further negotiated.
Turnbull also said his
country was "pleased to be providing increasing quantities of high
quality coal for steel making and increasingly for power generation with
advanced super critical technology".
The two sides signed six MoUs, including on cooperation in fighting international terrorism and on civil aviation security.
Addressing
the media jointly with Turnbull after the talks, Modi said that
cooperation in the fields of education and research was "one of the most
important aspects" of India-Australia ties.
"Both India and Australia recognise the central value of education and innovation in the prosperity of our societies," he said.
"It
is no surprise, therefore, that cooperation in the field of education
and research is one of the most important aspects of our engagement."
Laying
stress on students exchanges between the two countries, Modi said that
while Australia was home to over 60,000 Indian students, an increasing
number of Australian students was coming to study in India.
He
also called for working closely with members of the East Asia Summit and
the Indian Ocean rim countries to pursue common interests.
On
his part, Turnbull said Australia was helping India in its water
management policy while sharing expertise in the area of renewable
energy.
Stating that trade in goods and services between the two
sides stood at $20 billion, he said there was scope for increasing this.
"We are working with India for a quality RCEP (Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership)," he said.
RCEP
is a proposed free trade agreement between the 10 member-states of the
Association of Southeast Asian nations (Asean) and the six countries
with which Asean has free trade agreements -- Australia, China, India,
Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.
On the Comprehensive Economic
Cooperation Agreement between India and Australia, Turnbull said they
had "very good discussions", and that both felt that "progress has not
been as fast as either of us would like it to be".
Both sides have asked their chief negotiators to schedule an early meeting to get the process moving.
"We
will ask them to tabulate the areas of ambition where each side is
seeking access so that we can see where and to what extent the parties,
the negotiators are apart and they will report back to us as soon as
possible so that we can keep the focus on delivering the CECA and
identifying the areas where more work needs to be done," Turnbull said.
In
the meantime, both sides are working to identify tangible, commercial
opportunities to strengthen two-way trade and investment and this would
be a particular focus of his visit to Mumbai this week, he added.
The joint statement issued said the two were committed to deepening the bilateral defence and security partnership.
According
to the statement, the two Prime Ministers also underscored the joint
commitment of Australia and India, as fellow Indian Ocean nations, to
enhance regional cooperation in promoting maritime safety and security
and welcomed the important role of the bilateral White Shipping
Agreement.
"Both countries remain strongly committed to the
breadth of their defence ties, including through ongoing annual staff
talks for army, navy and air forces," it stated.
It also said
that "the two Prime Ministers reiterated their strong commitment to
combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, and stressed that
there can be no justification for acts of terror on any grounds
whatsoever".
"They asserted that the fight against terrorists,
terror organisations and networks should also identify, hold accountable
and take strong measures against all those who encourage, support and
finance terrorism, provide sanctuary to terrorists and terror groups,
and falsely extol their virtues," the statement said.
In this
regard, the two Prime Ministers also welcomed the signing of an MoU on
fighting international terrorism and transnational organised crime.
Modi
and Turbull also jointly inaugurated through video-conferencing the
TERI-Deakin Nanobiotechnology Centre in Gurugram, set up by India's TERI
and Australia's Deakin University.
Earlier on Monday, Turnbull
was accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Thereafter,
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj called on him.
In the afternoon, Modi and Turnbull travelled by a Delhi Metro train to visit the Akshardham temple in east Delhi.
The
Australian Prime Minister arrived here on Sunday on a four-day state
visit to India - his first to India since he assumed office in
September 2015.
His predecessor Tony Abbott had visited India in
September 2014 and this was followed by Modi's visit to Australia in
November that year.
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