India and Australia signed a landmark uranium supply agreement on Thursday, ending years of stalled talks, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese in Melbourne.
"We have signed an important agreement today on nuclear energy," Modi said after the talks. "This will pave the way for uranium supplies from Australia to India and give our clean energy objectives fresh momentum." A joint statement confirmed the arrangement covers exports for "exclusively peaceful purposes."
India has long sought access to Australia's uranium reserves, which account for roughly 28 percent of global supply, as it works toward a target of 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047. The two countries first entered a nuclear cooperation agreement in 2014, but exports had remained limited over proliferation concerns.
Beyond the uranium pact, Modi and Albanese unveiled a new Joint Declaration on Defence and Security Cooperation, a maritime security roadmap, and plans for a temporary space-tracking terminal on Australia's Cocos (Keeling) Islands to support India's Gaganyaan human spaceflight programme. AustralianSuper also announced a further $347 million investment in India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund, and both sides pledged to fast-track a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.