8216;Uranium deal to bind India with NPT terms8217;

The Aus PM said the 'strict safeguards' India has to follow to obtain uranium supplies from Sydney would have the same effect of that country signing the NPT.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Friday said the 8220;strict safeguards8221; India has to follow to obtain uranium supplies from Sydney would have the same effect of that country signing the nuclear non-proliferation treaty NPT.

8220;I can assure your listeners that the net effect of our safeguards agreement will be the same,8221; Howard told ABC radio on Friday, adding it will prevent India from using the fuel for developing nuclear weapons.

Howard on Thursday night reached an in-principle agreement with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh, despite India being one of the only four countries not to have signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty NPT.

8220;It8217;s a different approach and India has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. But we believe that these arrangements will deliver effectively the same outcome,8221; he said.

Howard said both countries would enter a bilateral safeguards agreement, and India would have to enter a similar agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

8220;And the sort of conditions that are going to be imposed on India are the same as the conditions that are being imposed on countries like China and Russia and I think also France8230; and we8217;ve been selling uranium to France for many years,8221; he said.

8220;I spoke to the Indian Prime Minister last night Thursday night and I went through all of the conditions, and I8217;m writing to him over the next few days to confirm that the agreement is subject to all of those conditions being met.8221;

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Australia is a major producer of uranium, with some of the world8217;s largest known deposits in the southern part of the country.

According to Sydney Morning Herald newspaper, plans to sell Australian uranium to India for power generation are in doubt, with India unwilling to agree not to conduct future nuclear weapons tests.

The Pakistani High Commission in Canberra issued a statement on Thursday criticising the government for seeking the uranium deal with India, the daily said.

It said that in the interests of non-proliferation and 8220;strategic stability in South Asia8221; there should instead be a 8220;package approach8221;, where Australia supplied both India and Pakistan.