Pakistan wants equal access to Australian uranium
by Jeremy Thompson, On Monday 5 December 2011, 15:15 EST
Pakistan has repeated its calls for access to Australian uranium in the wake of the ALP conference decision to approve the sale of the material to its neighbour and nuclear rival India.
Pakistan's high commissioner to Australia, Abdul Malik Abdullah, says if Australia is willing to export uranium to India then it should sell it to Pakistan as well.
He said Australia's long-held policy of not selling uranium to countries which had not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty had placed it on "the high moral ground".
"Now if after the ALP's decision, if the Australian Government is going to change the policy, all we would like to have is an equitable and non-discriminatory decision," he said.
"If Australia is going to lift the ban on a country which has not signed a non-Nuclear Proliferation Treaty, it is hoped it is also applied to Pakistan the same way." So far there has been no response from the Government.
At the weekend, the ALP national conference voted in favour of allowing uranium exports to India, a move which Prime Minister Julia Gillard said would boost trade and enhance Australia's relationship with India.
"We are at the right time in the history of the world to seize a new era of opportunity in this, the Asian century," she said.
"We need to make sure that across our regions we have the strongest possible relationships we can, including with the world's largest democracy, India." The move was fiercely opposed by Labor's Left faction, which says it is dangerous because India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
No qualms But this morning Defence Minister Stephen Smith said he had no qualms about the deal.
He said over the years the international community has come to accept that India, which has fought a series of wars with its nuclear-armed neighbour Pakistan, will not sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
But he said the ground rules changed "when India entered into the India-United States civil nuclear agreement".
"That agreement was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
It was approved by the nuclear suppliers group," he told ABC News Breakfast.
"That effectively put India under the international nuclear regulators for the first occasion and India gave a series of undertakings including a moratorium on future nuclear testing." Mr Smith insisted the safeguards are now just as strong as if India had signed the Treaty.
"That effectively gives you the same protections that you get if a country signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which, of course, has been the stumbling block for many years as far as India is concerned." Treat differently He said he was a "strong supporter" of the Treaty, but it was better to have India under the observation of the IAEA than nothing at all.
"For the first time we have India under that regulation and that is the essential, seminal, fundamental point which those that don't agree with or accept this decision either refuse to accept, refuse to acknowledge or don't understand." He said it would not be divisive for the Labor Party, as it has been a contentious issue since the 1970s and disagreement at the conference yesterday was no more than conference "repartee".
The Government will now move to negotiate a bilateral agreement with India on safeguards.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says Australia should not consider selling uranium to Pakistan because, unlike India, it is not a stable democracy.
Mr Abbott says the two countries must be treated differently.
"India is a stable democracy, and Pakistan, a country that Australia wants to have good relations with, is not in the same position," he said.
Pakistan wants equal access to Australian uranium - Yahoo!7 Finance
