Commodity Online
CANBERRA : Australia on Monday made it clear that it will not sell uranium to India as long as it doesn’t sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Speaking to reporters here Australia’s Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said, "We've had as a party, a long standing policy position of only exporting uranium to countries who are party to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. India for its own reasons is not a party to that."

"Australia's relations with India needs to be taken to a new level and as I have said in the last few days, a new relationship for a new century. Now uranium is just one small part of that," Smith said.

At the fifth Australia-India Foreign Ministers Framework Dialogue held Monday morning, Stephen Smith and his Indian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee underlined the strong bonds and enduring shared interests that underpin this bilateral relationship.

Smith and Mukherjee signed Monday an Extradition Treaty and a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty, underscoring the willingness of the two countries to collaborate and address criminal matters in a practical way.