CHENNAI | Oct 29, 2015: There is no reason why Indian Companies shouldn’t be able to mine Uranium in Australia, according to Australia’s Minister of Trade and Investment Andrew Robb, once the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement between the two countries is finalised. In fact, Robb said increasing access to Indian investments in Australia was part of what was being discussed by the two countries.
Speaking in Chennai on Wednesday, he said both the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) and the Nuclear Cooperation Agreement were on track to being finalised by the end of this year. Responding to a question on whether Indian companies could be allowed to mine raw uranium in the country, “Yes. There is no reason why they couldn’t. In fact, two of Australia’s largest mining companies are owned by Canadian concerns. (These) Agreements would make it easier for Indian investment to move there,” he stated.
The Minister’s statement comes in the context of the ongoing negotiations for the NCA. Australia has already signed a civil nuclear agreement with India in September last year to supply India’s uranium needs. Bringing the NCA into force is targeted for the end of the year, subject to ratification by the Australian parliament. Australia has 40% of the world’s known reserves of uranium.
Robb also spoke on the Adani Group’s $ 7 billion coal mining and rail project which had run into repeated road blocks in the form of intense opposition from environmental groups in Australia. However, he said the project has just passed through approvals for the second time, and that the green groups in the country were opposing it on the grounds of technicality.
On the CECA, Robb said it was also on track to be completed by the end of this year and would have a marked shift on services. “It will have a respectable goods component, but the agreement is a modern economic agreement. The earlier version of the CECA was a traditional goods focused one... The new one has changed from being goods and tariff focused to services focused.” he said.
Robb also met government officials to set up an action plan on how best to expedite economic cooperation between the State and the country.
(Source: http://www.newindianexpress.com/)