Australia set for uranium talks with UAE

SYDNEY: Australia said Wednesday it will soon begin talks with the United Arab Emirates to pave the way for uranium sales to the Gulf federation as it builds its civil nuclear power industry.

Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd said Australia was set to start negotiations with the UAE -- already a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty -- on a nuclear safeguards agreement on peaceful uses of nuclear energy.

"A bilateral safeguards agreement with Australia is a further strict non-proliferation condition that Australia requires for supplying uranium," Rudd said in a statement.

The UAE, Australia's largest merchandise trading partner in the Middle East with two-way trade valued at over Aus$4.2 billion (US$4.2 billion), also hosts the Australian Defence Force headquarters in the region.

Rudd said the UAE saw nuclear energy as an additional source of electricity to meet future demand, and wanted it to be in operation by 2017. The UAE has a US$20 billion nuclear power project planned for Abu Dhabi.

It is already in negotiations or has completed negotiations with other countries, including Britain and France, on nuclear safeguard agreements.

"Australia welcomes the UAE's efforts to establish a responsible approach to nuclear power generation and hopes that it will serve as a model for other countries in the Middle East," Rudd said.

The foreign minister said the proposed agreement would also "open up an important additional market for Australian uranium producers".

Australia, which has about one-third of the world's uranium, has rebuffed previous approaches from India for its uranium because Delhi is not a signatory to the NPT.