India and Australia finalized administrative arrangements on July 9 to enable long-term Australian uranium exports to India for exclusively peaceful purposes, removing a key barrier to energy cooperation between the two nations.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced the agreement following the third India-Australia Annual Summit in Melbourne, where Modi addressed a gathering of some 20,000 members of the Indian diaspora. The uranium shipments will be subject to safeguards administered by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Australia, which holds nearly 28% of global uranium reserves, also expressed strong support for India's membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
India, home to 1.4 billion people, aims to reach 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047. The two sides also expressed concern over instability in West Asia and its impact on global energy supply chains, while Australia acknowledged India's Global Biofuels Alliance initiative.