In the course of the first official visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Australia, a bilateral agreement will be signed on the peaceful use of atomic power, ITAR-TASS learned from the Russian Federal Agency for Atomic Power. Representatives of Rosatom explained that the new intergovernmental document will in future enable the companies in the two countries to sign contracts for the supply of Australian uranium to Russian atomic reactors. According to an ITAR-TASS correspondent in Sydney, Australians believe that the supply of uranium may start as early as next year. The Head of Australian Foreign Ministry Alexander Downer told the Daily Telegraph newspaper that "the elaboration of technical details of the future document in the field of nuclear cooperation is at present virtually finished". In his opinion, the agreement "turns a new page in the history of mutually beneficial cooperation between the two states". Earlier, following the initiative of the Australian Federal Government, a special expert commission was created under the patronage of Prime Minister John Howard; the objective of the commission was to analyse the possibilities of processing crude uranium at Russian facilities. |
