India and Australia have agreed to hold the first round of negotiations on the civil nuclear co-operation agreement here in March, the visiting Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr said on Monday.
“Australian and Indian officials will be working to conclude the agreement, which will enable the export of uranium from Australia to India,” the Minister said after holding talks with External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid.
Carr said the issue of further strengthening bilateral investment ties, including the Australian Minister of Trade’s visit here later this month to advance the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) was also discussed.
Sources said while issues regarding the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement did come up at the talks, it was decided that this would be taken up during the forthcoming visit of the Australian Trade Minister.
The Minister announced that as part of the Australia-India water technology partnership, the first phase of the $12-million initiative would commence with a pilot project of an Australian modelling tool for water management in the Brahmani and Baitarani river basins in eastern India.
Pointing out that trade negotiators had been engaged in broadening their understanding towards a mutually beneficial CECA, Khurshid said, “Our investments in Australia have grown significantly in recent years, particularly in the resources sector. We have welcomed the Australian side to invest in the opportunities in India. Our Defence Minister will be visiting Australia soon for further discussions on co-operation in defence and security.”
> ashwini.phadnis@thehindu.co.in
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.