A beneficial energy partnership

A satisfactory relationship between India and Australia has obvious value in the light of evolving power dynamics in the Indo-Pacific theatre which the rapid rise of China is influencing in no small measure. In this backdrop the recent visit of Australian PM Tony Abbott to New Delhi, whose highlight was the signing of a civil nuclear agreement between the two countries, assumes significance.
That this agreement was reached in the aftermath of disappointment caused during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s trip to Japan last week — during which an anticipated accord on a civil nuclear partnership could not be clinched — lends the nuclear understanding with Canberra a special significance.
This accord is the result of background work on both sides since 2012, when Julia Guillard and Manmohan Singh led their respective governments. This is indicative of a bipartisan appreciation of the importance of a positive India-Australia relationship in both countries. Attention must now focus in New Delhi and Canberra on signing the needed administrative arrangements to make the understanding in the civil nuclear field operational.
Once this is through, we will be able to import uranium for our nuclear power reactors from Australia, the third-largest producer of uranium in the world after Canada and Kazakhstan. India has already reached an understanding with the latter for the import of this fuel for nuclear reactors. We have to satisfy Australia that the uranium sourced from it is not diverted to our nuclear weapons programme. Discussions in recent times between the two countries suggest that Canberra is mindful that India’s abstinence record in the nuclear field is spotless and of a model nature, although this country has declined to be a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).  
The expectation of uranium imports from Australia commencing in the near future is, therefore, not misplaced. When uranium from both Australia and Kazakhstan are factored in, India will have some chance to work toward increasing the nuclear power component of the national grid to about 20 per cent from the current two per cent over an approximate 10-year period. This will be environmentally clean energy.
The agreement signed between Prime Ministers Modi and Abbott can, in fact, be considered the linchpin of a broader energy relationship between the two countries, which is one of the more stable ways to build a long-term strategic  understanding across key sectors. The prospect of substantial quantum coal imports from Australia are also real. This will bolster the energy partnership which will be boosted by Indian private investment of about $16 billion in Australia’s mining sector. The incipient defence ties with Canberra are a natural aspect of the broader design being envisioned.