UK to lift nuclear ban on India | The Australian
AUSTRALIA is expected to come under pressure to lift its ban on uranium sales to India after British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to allow the export of nuclear technology and components to New Delhi against official recommendations.
Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Cameron was to make the announcement on the nuclear deal last night. The paper said British companies would be able to strike deals worth billions of dollars under the new regime, which will be based on a presumption that export licences will be granted for products intended for civilian use unless there are specific concerns about a deal.
Britain's former Labour government had blocked the export of nuclear technology on the grounds that India had refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
It has been longstanding Australian Labor Party policy not to sell uranium to India despite a 2008 agreement by the members of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which Australia is a member, to allow its members to sell uranium and civilian nuclear technology to India.
Mr Cameron is hoping that his visit to India will win over a key business partner seen as vital to boosting Britain's post-recession recovery. He is heading the largest British delegation to travel to India in recent memory.
The trip kicked off yesterday in the southern city of Bangalore -- the showcase of India's IT industry -- where Mr Cameron visited the country's second-largest software exporter, Infosys, and the state-run defence giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Among a raft of trade agreements to be signed, the expected highlight is a deal worth up to $720 million for BAE Systems to supply 57 more Hawk trainer jets. India ordered 66 Hawk jets from BAE in 2004. All the aircraft in the follow-up deal will be jointly assembled locally with HAL.
Mr Cameron arrived in India after visiting Turkey, where he risked opening a rift with Israel after branding the Gaza Strip a "prison camp".
"Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp," Mr Cameron said as he addressed Turkey's diplomatic rift with Israel after the raid on the Gaza flotilla, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed.
He said humanitarian goods and services "must flow in both directions" from the Palestinian territory, under partial blockade from Israel.
Hamas, the Islamist movement in control of Gaza, welcomed Mr Cameron's remarks.
Earlier, Mr Cameron lauded Turkey's "unique relationships and influence" in the Middle East, waving aside his host's opposition to new EU and US sanctions on Iran as a "difference of emphasis".
Turkey, together with Brazil, is pushing a swap under which Tehran would surrender some of its uranium stockpile in return for civil nuclear fuel. A key meeting to discuss the proposal will take place shortly in Istanbul.
But speaking on Tehran's doorstep, Mr Cameron said: "Let's be frank about this. Iran is enriching uranium to 20 per cent with no industrial logic for what they are doing other than producing a bomb."
He said that under the proposed deal Iran would keep about half the material that it needs to make a nuclear arsenal. "We need Turkey's help now in making it clear to Iran just how serious we are about engaging fully with the international community."
AUSTRALIA is expected to come under pressure to lift its ban on uranium sales to India after British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed to allow the export of nuclear technology and components to New Delhi against official recommendations.
Britain's The Daily Telegraph reported that Mr Cameron was to make the announcement on the nuclear deal last night. The paper said British companies would be able to strike deals worth billions of dollars under the new regime, which will be based on a presumption that export licences will be granted for products intended for civilian use unless there are specific concerns about a deal.
Britain's former Labour government had blocked the export of nuclear technology on the grounds that India had refused to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
It has been longstanding Australian Labor Party policy not to sell uranium to India despite a 2008 agreement by the members of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which Australia is a member, to allow its members to sell uranium and civilian nuclear technology to India.
Mr Cameron is hoping that his visit to India will win over a key business partner seen as vital to boosting Britain's post-recession recovery. He is heading the largest British delegation to travel to India in recent memory.
The trip kicked off yesterday in the southern city of Bangalore -- the showcase of India's IT industry -- where Mr Cameron visited the country's second-largest software exporter, Infosys, and the state-run defence giant Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. Among a raft of trade agreements to be signed, the expected highlight is a deal worth up to $720 million for BAE Systems to supply 57 more Hawk trainer jets. India ordered 66 Hawk jets from BAE in 2004. All the aircraft in the follow-up deal will be jointly assembled locally with HAL.
Mr Cameron arrived in India after visiting Turkey, where he risked opening a rift with Israel after branding the Gaza Strip a "prison camp".
"Gaza cannot and must not be allowed to remain a prison camp," Mr Cameron said as he addressed Turkey's diplomatic rift with Israel after the raid on the Gaza flotilla, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed.
He said humanitarian goods and services "must flow in both directions" from the Palestinian territory, under partial blockade from Israel.
Hamas, the Islamist movement in control of Gaza, welcomed Mr Cameron's remarks.
Earlier, Mr Cameron lauded Turkey's "unique relationships and influence" in the Middle East, waving aside his host's opposition to new EU and US sanctions on Iran as a "difference of emphasis".
Turkey, together with Brazil, is pushing a swap under which Tehran would surrender some of its uranium stockpile in return for civil nuclear fuel. A key meeting to discuss the proposal will take place shortly in Istanbul.
But speaking on Tehran's doorstep, Mr Cameron said: "Let's be frank about this. Iran is enriching uranium to 20 per cent with no industrial logic for what they are doing other than producing a bomb."
He said that under the proposed deal Iran would keep about half the material that it needs to make a nuclear arsenal. "We need Turkey's help now in making it clear to Iran just how serious we are about engaging fully with the international community."
