MELBOURNE: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has expressed his willingness to sell uranium to India provided New Delhi adhered to strict safeguards, and said he would also back the India-U.S. nuclear deal.

Australia's endorsement of the deal would come through its membership of a key group of nuclear nations, the Nuclear Suppliers Group, The Age newspaper said.

Mr. Howard opened the door to future uranium sales to India though the present Australian policy does not permit it as India is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Considerations

While Mr. Howard emphasised that a formal decision to scrap the policy had not been taken, he said he ``wouldn't rule out a change'' and spoke highly of Australia's relationship with India. ``We see India as a very responsible country and our bilateral ties are growing. There will be considerations that we will bear in mind,'' he was quoted as saying.

Mr. Howard's comments came ahead of closed-door talks in Canberra this week involving senior Ministers, government officials and India's special nuclear envoy, Shyam Saran.

Mr. Saran was here to lobby for endorsement of the proposed deal between New Delhi and Washington and to reinforce India's long-standing interest in securing Australian uranium for its nuclear power plants.

Inspections

Ahead of the discussions, Mr. Howard made it clear that India would need to submit its nuclear power plants to inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Australia is strongly backing U.S. calls for India to open its power plants to the inspections. ``There will only be a change [in Australian policy] if we are completely satisfied that the safeguards and the understandings and the conditions that might be attached will be adequate,'' he said. — PTI

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