India, Australia strike deal on uranium exports during Modi visit; diaspora gives warm welcome to Indian leader

MELBOURNE/NEW DELHI, July 9 (Reuters) – Australia and India reached a deal on Thursday, July 9, to export Australian uranium to India for use in the nuclear energy industry, while agreeing to deepen cooperation in renewables, critical minerals and green hydrogen.

India has long eyed Australia’s uranium reserves to help meet a target of 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047, while Australia is looking to diversify trade beyond its reliance on China, its top partner.

“Australia and India are close partners and even closer friends,” Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday, after finalising the deal with visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“The arrangement facilitates Australian uranium exports to India to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity, providing an additional market for the Australian resources sector.”

No details on the volume, value or timing of the exports were immediately available.

MODI SEEKS AUSTRALIAN INVESTMENT

Though both nations agreed to a nuclear cooperation pact in 2014, uranium exports have been limited over concerns they could end up in India’s nuclear weapons program.

The new agreement ensures nuclear fuel is used solely for peaceful purposes, such as energy generation.

Modi said on Thursday India’s relationship with Australia presented “historic opportunities” for both countries to cooperate across several areas.

Australia’s technology, capital and resources could help accelerate India’s energy transition, Modi said.

He also signaled possible cooperation in low-carbon aluminum projects.

“We have historic opportunities to cooperate in this field,” Modi said, as he urged Australia’s business community to invest long-term in India’s road, port, rail and urban infrastructure projects.

“India provides a safe, stable and sustainable growth option for your funds,” he said.

Australia’s largest pension fund, AustralianSuper, said on Thursday it would invest a further A$500 million ($347 million) in India’s National Investment and Infrastructure Fund.

After meeting Modi at the business event, Albanese called the Indian leader a “living bridge” between Australia and India, saying Modi’s vision had helped reshape the roadmap for Australia’s economic engagement with India.

India is Australia’s fifth-largest trading partner after China, Japan, the U.S. and South Korea, while around 1 million people in Australia claim Indian ancestry, out of a population of 28 million.

On Thursday evening, there was heavy police presence outside an indoor arena in Melbourne, where Modi addressed an estimated 30,000 expatriate Indians.

A group of around two dozen far-right protesters shouted anti-immigration slogans and held banners calling for the expulsion of Indians from Australia, though they were heavily outnumbered by people waving Indian flags and beating drums.

Modi noted that this was his third visit to Australia as prime minister, after trips in 2014 and 2023. His first visit ended a 28-year gap since the previous visit by an Indian prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, in 1986.

“It’s a hat-trick this time,” Modi said as the crowd chanted “Modi, Modi” and waved their mobile phone torchlights. “This shows the heights the India-Australia relationship has reached,” he said, adding that the Indian diaspora in Australia was the driving force behind his outreach.

Speaking before Modi, Jacinta Allan, premier of Victoria state, said Victoria respects India and values its people.

“We welcome your students, your businesses, your families, your ideas,” she told Modi. “India is not a country we trade with, it is a country we trust.”

The Indian leader has staged large events on his overseas trips and has addressed packed stadiums in Britain, the U.S. and other countries that have large expatriate Indian populations.

($1 = 1.4432 Australian dollars)