No plans to change uranium sale policy to India soon: Aus

Standing by Australia's policy of not selling nuclear fuel to countries which have not signed the NPT, Prime Minister John Howard today ruled out any immediate plans of supplying uranium to India, but left the door open for future negotiations.

"There isn't going to be any immediate change in government policy. Obviously like all policies, you never say never," Howard said during a joint news conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Sydney.

Australia, which has more than 40 per cent of the world's known reserves of uranium, has a nuclear policy of not selling the mineral to non-signatories to the NPT.

Australia: No N-fuel for India

However, Howard said a team of government officials would visit New Delhi soon to study the details of the landmark Indo-US nuclear deal under which India would have access to civil nuclear technology in return for placing a majority of its nuclear reactors under international inspection.

"We will be sending a team of officials to India to get some more information about the agreement and the team would then go to the United States," Howard said.

The decision to set up a group of officials from both India and Australia to study the Indo-US nuclear deal was taken during Howard's visit to New Delhi on March 5.

During his discussions with Howard, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had cited India's "impeccable" non-proliferation record and had asked Australia to lift the ban on sale of uranium to New Delhi.

Not committing himself to the Indian request, Howard had said that his country wanted more details on the Indo-US nuclear agreement.

Acknowledging India's good track record in terms of non-proliferation for the last 30 years, Howard said, "But obviously we have a government policy and we're not going to change it because of the agreement between the United States and India and despite the fact that India has expressed, as you all know, a great interest in purchasing Australian uranium."

Rice had said on Thursday that it was up to Australia to decide whether to supply uranium to India and that it was an issue that America should not be involved in.

"I think the issue of whether or not one agrees to participate in fuel supplies is a quite separable issue and is one for the Australians to determine. It's not one that is at issue with the United States by any means."