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Friday, Aug 17, 2007
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Uranium: Howard defends decision

P.S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: Australian Prime Minister John Howard has defended his decision to authorise uranium sales to India to meet its civil nuclear energy programmes.

Australia, with huge reserves of uranium, is a major player in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

At a press conference in Canberra on Thursday, before he informed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the decision, Mr. Howard drew parallels between India, on one side, and China as also France and even Taiwan, on the other. He said: “It will strike many Australians as very strange that it is acceptable to sell uranium to China but it is not, no matter what arrangements you have, acceptable to sell uranium to India. In the 1990s, before France signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, we sold uranium to France, and we also sold uranium to Taiwan.”

Asked about the reaction by Pakistani leaders, he said “that could, in part, be influenced by the context of sensitivity between India and Pakistan regarding uranium.”

He said the uranium sales would be “one key element of a comprehensive package of measures” that Canberra “is taking to strengthen” ties with India. Hailing India as “the world’s largest democracy,” he described it as “an increasingly influential regional power, and an important potential strategic partner.”

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer had, earlier, indicated that plans to enter into an exclusive safeguards pact with India could be bench-marked against Canberra’s uranium export accords with China, the U.S, and the U.K.

Mr. Howard cited economic data to reinforce the case. “In Australia, it will create increased exports and jobs over the longer term. The [uranium] industry already generates 658 million Australian dollars annually in exports. And, India will be a large and growing market. India will build 11 new [civil nuclear] reactors … and need up to 12,000 tonnes of uranium per annum to [the year] 2032 … The use of nuclear power today already reduces global emissions [of greenhouse gases] by more than two billion tonnes a year.”

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