India, Australia complete formalities for civil nuclear pact

Antalya: India and Australia have announced the completion of procedures for bringing the two-nation nuclear deal into force. It was finalized at the bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi with his Australian counterpart Malcolm Turnbull on the sidelines of the G-20 Summit at Antalya in Turkey last night. Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup has termed it as a milestone achievement that speaks of mutual trust and confidence between Indian and Australia. He said, with the completion of procedures, including the administrative arrangements, India-Australia civil nuclear agreement will enter into force.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had another bilateral meeting with the President of the European Union Council Donald Tusk and the President of the EU Commission Jean-Claude Junker. Earlier, in the G-20 summit session on Inclusive Growth, Global Economy, Growth Strategies, Employment and Investment Strategies, Mr Modi pitched for enhancing public investments to spur growth. He called the multilateral development banks to enlarge their capital base to support the



infrastructure needs of developing countries.

Mr Modi also welcomed new lending institutions like the New Development Bank being promoted by the BRICS nations. He advocated hassle free labour mobility.

The civil nuclear deal between India and Australia has been signed in September last year after many rounds of talks. However, the decks for its implementation has been cleared with the announcement of completion of the procedures to enforce the agreement on Sunday night. Australia has the world’s highest Uranium reserves and is also a key member in the Nuclear Suppliers Group where India is making efforts to gain entry. Furthermore, the meeting between Mr Modi and the EU leaders come at a time when the two-way trade flow has exceeded 72 billion Euros as of 2014, which analysts say has the potential to grow even further.