India expressed its interest in having civil nuclear cooperation with Australia amid indications that the two countries are likely to sign an energy agreement in November under which Australia may supply uranium for joint venture power plants.

Australia's policy of not supplying uranium to countries that have not signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) was noted by External Affairs Minister S M Krishna who had discussions on a wide variety of bilateral subjects with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and his counterpart Stephen Smith.

Nevertheless, Krishna told a press conference in Cairns after his discussions "while we have noted Australia's position on the issue of the supply of Uranium to India, we would be interested in having civil nuclear cooperation with Australia as well, as and when it is ready."

Rudd is expected to visit India in November when the two countries are likely to sign an "Energy Declaration" for generation of nuclear power for which his country may supply uranium.

Krishna said that "India needs to expand the use of nuclear power to meet our growing energy requirement in a climate friendly way. We are thankful for Australia's support in IAEA and NSG. Following the NSG waiver we have been making progress on civil nuclear cooperation with partners such as US, France and Russia."

Apart from the visit of Rudd, the External Affairs Minister said that Australian Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Smith would also visit India this year.

Krishna, who is on a five-day visit to Australia, said "we are looking forward to these three high-profile meetings that will be held in India."

... contd.