New Delhi: During Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming visit to Australia, India hopes to finally sign a uranium supply deal to power its growing energy requirements, especially in light of New Delhi’s push for global data centres.
A commercial deal for the supply of uranium has been under negotiations between India and Australia following the signing of the Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between the two countries in 2014.
“India and Australia have a bilateral nuclear supply agreement. However it has not been implemented for the last few years. In recent times, there have been very substantial, forward-looking talks between the two sides. I think there is hope that there will be a logical conclusion to the discussions,” MEA Joint Secretary (Indo-Pacific) Vishwesh Negi said, responding to a query from ThePrint in his briefing ahead of Modi’s three-nation trip to Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand from 6-11 July.
Government sources said that while nothing has been finalised yet, and discussions are ongoing, they hope for a forward movement when Modi meets his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese.
The Modi government is pushing for making India a major centre for new data centres used for artificial intelligence which will require huge power capacity. And this is where nuclear energy comes in.
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Defence and economic cooperation
Sources said that India and Australia are also set to renew and upgrade the 2009 Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation. The two sides will also finalise a Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap which is for white shipping.
White shipping information is the exchange of advanced data between nations regarding the identity and movement of commercial, non-military merchant vessels.
The India Australia defence relations have mostly remained within the space of multi-lateral and joint exercises, especially on the naval front. However, in 2021, the countries signed a Mutual Logistics Support Agreement, enabling greater interoperability through joint exercises, strategic dialogues and training.
Since then, the intensity of exercises and military visits has increased.
In June this year, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Australian counterpart Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles co-chaired the second edition of India-Australia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue.
They discussed advancements in bilateral maritime security cooperation and efforts to finalise the Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap.
The two sides aim to collaborate on maritime domain awareness activities by maritime patrol aircraft and they are also exploring opportunities to enhance undersea domain awareness.
Memorandum of Understanding regarding the Provision of Defence Articles and Defence Services as the next step in deepening defence industrial collaboration is being worked out.
Incidentally, it was in October last year that Australia’s first defence trade mission made a visit to India and the Australia-India Defence Industry Roundtable was held.
There is a possibility of setting up a joint Working Group on defence industry, research, and materiel.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)
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