Melbourne: Australia's new Labour government on Tuesday said it would scrap a landmark deal to sell uranium to India, as the South Asian nation is not a signatory to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) reversing a decision taken by the previous government.
Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith conveyed his country's turnaround to Shyam Saran, a Special Envoy of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, during their talks held in Perth.
"We went into the election with a strong policy commitment we would not export uranium to nation states who are not members of the NPT," Smith told reporters after the meeting.
John Howard's Conservative government had in August 2007 decided to start negotiating uranium trade with India before it lost power in November last.
"India is a nation state that is not a party to the Non-Proliferation Treaty. I don't think there's any expectation in the international community that it will become a member," Smith said. Australia has the world's largest known reserves of uranium.
Smith described his talks with Saran as a "good and friendly meeting," which included discussions on bilateral trade and the recent cricket dispute between the two nations.
Australian government "is very much looking forward to taking the relationship with India to an even better level."
Saran did not comment after the neeting but Smith said the Indian official was not "surprised by the position."
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