Sydney, September 26 :

Australia is considering whether to match a controversial US nuclear deal with India to allow Canberra to sell uranium to the New Delhi government, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said on Tuesday.

He said that while cutting a deal with nuclear-armed India was not on the cards for the moment, it might happen in the future, despite the fact that New Delhi has not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

His comments came a day after prime minister John Howard said his government was considering changing its policy of refusing to supply uranium to countries that have not signed the NPT.

Downer said that Canberra had not ruled out a similar deal to the landmark US-India agreement of July, which allows for limited international inspections of Indian nuclear facilities in return for nuclear cooperation with Washington.

“Now, we’d have to see all of that in operation to work out whether this was really going to be a satisfactory solution,” he told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio. “It sounds like, on balance, quite a good idea, but whether it would be such a good idea that we would sell uranium to India, I don’t know,” he said.

But the minister also urged caution in allowing non-signatories of the NPT access to uranium, warning that such deals could undermine the treaty and set a dangerous new precedent.

“I think, at the moment, it’s best we stick with our current policy,” he said, warning

such a sale would raise questions as to whether Canberra should also supply material that can be used in nuclear weapons to countries such as Pakistan and Israel.

“On balance you wouldn’t sell to any country that hadn’t signed the NPT. But having said that, this particular deal is a bit of a variation from the norm,” Downer said, explaining that under the US deal, India would open 14 of its 22 nuclear facilities to International Atomic Energy Agency inspections.