Mukherjee concludes visit to Australia

Melbourne, Jun 25 (ANTARA/PTI) - External Affairs Minister Pranab
Mukherjee Tuesday left for New Delhi concluding his first
visit to Australia during which both the sides inked treaties
on extradition and mutual legal assistance and reviewed the
entire gamut of bilateral ties including the possible sale of
uranium to India.

Both the countries also agreed to further strengthen
their relationship by forming a new body to hold yearly talks
and by signing treaties to increase anti-terror efforts.

Mukherjee, who met Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd
and visited Parliament Monday, signed extradition and mutual
legal assistance treaties with his Australian counterpart
Stephen Smith as both the leaders vowed to enhance their
strategic security and counter-terrorism cooperation.

Smith said he wanted Australia to take its relationship
with India to "the front line of its international
partnerships".

"It is a matter of regret that, over the last 30 years or
so, Australia has under-appreciated its relationship with
India," Smith said Monday.

On export of uranium, Smith said New Delhi was well aware
of the Labour Party's opposition to uranium sales to India, as
India was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty.

"The Australian Labor Party has a longstanding position,
which is well known, that we don't export uranium to a country
which is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty," he said.


Smith, who is expected to visit New Delhi in September,
said Australia strongly backed India's bid to join APEC (Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation) after the expiry of the group's
2010 moratorium on its expansion and also its bid to become a
permanent member of the UN Security Council.

Mukherjee said India supported Australia's application
for observer status at the South Asian Association for
Regional Co-operation (SAARC).

The two countries Monday agreed to establish an
Australia-India Roundtable, which will be jointly convened by
the Lowy Institute and the Indian Council for World Affairs.

Highlighting education as an vital sector of growing
relations, the two ministers announced a new joint working
group to examine passport and consular issues.

Over 52,000 Indian students are studying in Australia and
two-way tourism booming.

The two leaders, in a joint statement issued after the
Australia-India Foreign Ministers Framework Dialogue, the
fifth in a series and first since 2005, reiterated their
strong support for nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.

Mukherjee left for New Delhi Tuesday morning concluding
his two-day visit.