By NNN-PTI,
New Delhi : Notwithstanding Australia’s refusal to sell uranium to India, the two countries vowed to push their ties to a “strategic partnership” and decided to enhance their cooperation in economic, defence, energy and various other fields.
During his talks with his visiting Australian counterpart Stephen Smith here on Friday, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee also expressed gratitude to Canberra for its “constructive and positive” role at the recent meeting of Nuclear Suppliers Group which granted waiver to India.
Australia supported New Delhi’s case at the NSG but the country with largest known reserves of uranium has maintained that it will not supply the yellow cake to India, which is not a signatory to the NPT.
However, it has underlined that its relations with India go beyond the nuclear field.
Mukherjee and Smith discussed a wide range of issues, covering economic, political, defence and scientific fields and agreed to “take the level of their relations to a ‘strategic partnership’ and work towards the objective,” said a joint statement issued after the talks.
In the economic field, the two ministers noted the increasing dynamism in the ties and growing diversification of trade and investment linkages.
They agreed that the feasibility study being conducting on the proposed Free Trade Agreement needed to be concluded by the end of this year so that both the governments could consider recommendations and determine the next steps.
“The complementarity of the two economies point to further scope for creating business opportunities in both countries,” the joint statement said.