External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee met his Australian counterpart Stephen Smith in New Delhi [Images] on Friday. Smith is on a five-day official visit to India.

Australia [Images] recently announced that it would not sell uranium to India, since it was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.

The opposition had slammed the government's 'hypocritical' policy on the matter. "Foreign Minister Stephen Smith should use his visit to India to announce a new uranium export policy for New Delhi," Opposition Foreign Affairs spokesman Andrew Robb had said.

Incidentally, the Kevin Rudd-led Australia government had welcomed the Nuclear Suppliers Group's decision to grant a waiver to India to carry out nuclear trade. While critics of the Vienna [Images] announcement said the decision would undermine the non-proliferation efforts, Robb said Canberra needed to support India in efforts to produce greenhouse gas-free electricity.

Photograph: Pedro Ugarte/AFP/Getty Images