India, Australia finalise civil nuclear deal; Tony Abbott gifts Nehru jacket to Narendra Modi

New Delhi: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi sealed the long-awaited deal to allow the export of uranium to New Delhi for use in power generation.

Australia, which has almost a third of the world's known uranium reserves, imposes strict conditions on uranium exports and India's failure to sign the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty had long been a barrier to a deal.

Both countries were negotiating a so-called nuclear safeguards agreement with verification mechanisms since 2012 when a former Australian government agreed on civil nuclear energy cooperation with India that would eventually allow the export of Australian uranium.

During the meeting, Abbott also gifted a 'Nehru jacket' made of Australian wool to Modi, who in return presented him a copy of the Bhagwad Gita.

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On Thursday, Mr Abbott allay fears about India not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, telling reporters in Mumbai that India had an “impeccable non-proliferation record” and has been a “model international citizen”, which “threatens no one”.

Mr Abbott added the proposed agreement indicated trust for the “world’s emerging democratic superpower”.

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The Australian Prime Minister phrased the significance of his visit quite succinctly Thursday: “There is unrealised potential in the relationship that this visit will work to exploit.”

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who is in India on a two-day visit, signed 21 memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with the University of Mumbai at a function organised at the Convocation Hall on the Fort campus of the University on Thursday.

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Mr Abbott also launched the New Colombo plan, which is an inter-governmental effort to strengthen economic and social development of member countries in the Asia-Pacific region and announced a $3 million funding for Melbourne university’s Australia India Institute, Australia’s only national centre of research and analysis on India.