New Delhi: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard arrived in New Delhi on Monday for a state visit that will include talks about selling uranium to energy-hungry India.
Australia has agreed to consider the sale even though India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Gillard and Prime Manmohan Manmohan Singh are slated to announce preliminary negotiations over a civil nuclear deal.
"They will discuss this matter and make some progress, but the whole process will take some time," an Indian government official said on condition of anonymity.
Australia's ruling centre-left Labor party voted to overturn its ban on uranium sales to India last year after a long debate about nuclear weapons and reactor safety following Japan's atomic crisis.
Gillard, who landed in Delhi after a surprise trip to Afghanistan, will have meetings with business leaders and visit an education project on Tuesday before holding talks with Singh on Wednesday.
India ended its status as a nuclear pariah when it entered into a civil nuclear agreement with the United States in 2005 that was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Australia has agreed to consider the sale even though India has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and Gillard and Prime Manmohan Manmohan Singh are slated to announce preliminary negotiations over a civil nuclear deal.
"They will discuss this matter and make some progress, but the whole process will take some time," an Indian government official said on condition of anonymity.
Australia's ruling centre-left Labor party voted to overturn its ban on uranium sales to India last year after a long debate about nuclear weapons and reactor safety following Japan's atomic crisis.
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Gillard, who landed in Delhi after a surprise trip to Afghanistan, will have meetings with business leaders and visit an education project on Tuesday before holding talks with Singh on Wednesday.
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India ended its status as a nuclear pariah when it entered into a civil nuclear agreement with the United States in 2005 that was approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency.
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