After Japan has already made headway with India and Australia on stronger relationships between their countries, the next logical step would seem to have Australia and India become stronger as well. During this most recent meeting, Australia returned stolen artifacts and donated $20 million to fund joint Indo-Australian projects. While these are positive steps to improve relationships between two countries, the sale of uranium seems a bit extreme. On 5 Sep, Australia agreed to ship uranium to India for use in creating nuclear energy plants, but is this a good idea?
Prime Minister Mobi stated that the uranium would solely be used to providing energy for its 1.25 billion people; however, how can Mobi guarantee this? An article yesterday stated that in 2013, $20 trillion dollars disappeared through corruption, tax evasion and corporate malpractices—other mega scams cost India $1 trillion a year regarding its natural resources.
Mobi has stated these problems stemmed from the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and while Mobi has firmly stated his focus is on anti-corruption efforts… it’s an ongoing problem that will take a considerable amount of time to see any sort of change.
Australia originally decided against selling India uranium since it was not a signature member on the non-proliferation treaty (even though India already has nuclear weapons), but changed their mind after receiving “necessary commitments” – though the article doesn’t really state what these are. In addition, Sydney stated it wasn’t going to be involved in New Dehli’s internal affairs regarding its “nuclear power industry or safety standards”… but shouldn’t they have a requirement to remain involved in how the uranium is managed, stored, and used…?
Thoughts?
References:
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India and Australia sign nuclear fuel deal
Narendra Modi Government checks Corruption where UPA failed