India, Australia sign uranium pact

India and Australia on Thursday signed a pact to facilitate uranium exports as the two countries pledged to deepen defense and security cooperation.

This came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Melbourne, where he was received by Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for a leaders’ summit.

A joint statement released after the meeting said the leaders welcomed the “signing of the administrative arrangement to enable uranium exports to India for peaceful purposes under the 2015 Australia-India Nuclear Cooperation Agreement.”

“The arrangement facilitates Australian uranium exports to India to help increase the share of non-fossil fuel power capacity, providing an additional market for the Australian resources sector,” it said.

Albanese said: “We look forward to becoming a reliable, trusted supplier of uranium to India.”

The two leaders “reaffirmed that defense and security cooperation is a cornerstone of the partnership in an increasingly complex strategic environment.”

The Australia-India relationship was upgraded to a “comprehensive strategic partnership” in June 2020.

India is also Australia’s fifth largest trading partner, with services valued at $54.4 billion in 2024-25.