No uranium for Pak: Australian Foreign Minister

Melbourne, July 27: Australian Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Alexander Downer has dashed Pakistani hopes of buying uranium from Australia.

Alexander Downer has made it clear that there is no prospect in the near future of the South Asian country getting the crucial fuel for its nuclear plants.

"I don't think that bears any prospect in the foreseeable future of exporting to Pakistan unless Pakistan gets into some sort of a system of UN inspections and controls over its two nuclear facilities and it comes to Australia and signs a nuclear safeguards agreement," Alexander Downer told reporters in Perth today.

"It doesn't seem likely that's about to happen," the Minister added.

The refusal has come after Pakistan's Minister for Religious Affairs Ejaz ul-Haq had urged Australia to consider selling uranium to Pakistanin the same way it was planning to sell yellow cake to its arch rival and neighbour India.

The Pakistan Minister's comments had come after Canberra indicated yesterday it was considering selling uranium to India.

Australia, which has the largest uranium deposits in the world, has been refusing to sell uranium to both India and Pakistan as they have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Australian Foreign Minister, according to the Australian media reports, criticised Pakistan for not negotiating with the International Atomic Energy Agency to establish safeguards for its two nuclear power stations.

UNI