India inks pact with Namibia to ensure uranium supplies

Namibia has agreed to sell uranium to India under an agreement on civil nuclear cooperation between the two countries. The agreement comes in the wake of Australia reiterating its inability to sell uranium to India citing NPT conditions.

After discussions with prime minister Manmohan Singh, visiting Namibian president Hifikepunye Pohamba said he believed that Namibia had the best uranium in the world to offer India.

The deal is reportedly an umbrella agreement that includes sale of uranium to India.

According to a ministry of external affairs press release, after signing of the agreement, many opportunities for investment in Namibia in the uranium, diamond, agriculture, energy and transportation, railways, mining, ICT and SME sectors would open up to India.

The two countries also signed four agreements, including memoranda on understanding in areas of geology and mineral resources, defence, pan-African e-network and waiver of visas for diplomatic and official passports.

After discussions with the Namibian president, Singh said the two countries had reviewed the current state of relations and set out the road map for the future. He added that the countries have decided to inject fresh dynamism in cooperation in areas such as HRD, capacity building, trade and economic exchanges, agriculture, transportation, defence, information technology, health, energy and mining.