During Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Melbourne on July 9, 2026, India and Australia sign a landmark administrative arrangement enabling long-term exports of Australian uranium to India for peaceful energy generation. The deal resolves a long-standing stalemate over India's non-signatory status to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The leaders also pledge enhanced defense ties and space cooperation, while back in India, severe monsoon rains trigger deadly landslides and building collapses.
Australia-India uranium export agreement
- ▪Australia holds approximately 28 percent of the world's known uranium resources but does not use nuclear power or weapons domestically
- ▪Australia and India signed a nuclear cooperation pact in 2014, but actual uranium exports were stalled due to concerns over weapons use
- ▪Australian uranium exports to India will be used exclusively for peaceful purposes under International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards
- ▪Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi signed an administrative arrangement on July 9, 2026, enabling long-term Australian uranium exports to India
India's nuclear energy expansion goals
- ▪India is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which historically led Australia to refuse uranium sales to the country
- ▪India's installed nuclear power capacity rose from 6,780 MW in 2016 to 8,880 MW in 2026, an increase of about 31 percent
- ▪India aims to install 100 gigawatts of nuclear energy capacity by 2047 to increase its share of non-fossil fuel power
Modi-Albanese summit outcomes
- ▪Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese pledged to accelerate an advanced, integrated, and top-tier defense and security partnership in the Indo-Pacific region
- ▪India and Australia agreed to build a temporary space tracking terminal on Australia's Cocos Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean
- ▪Australian pension fund AustralianSuper announced an additional investment of 500 million Australian dollars into India's National Investment and Infrastructure Fund
Indian diaspora event in Melbourne
- ▪Protesters gathered outside the Melbourne diaspora event, with some calling for the expulsion of Indians and others protesting minority persecution in India
- ▪Narendra Modi and Anthony Albanese addressed a large community event of Indian expatriates in Melbourne on July 9, 2026
Monsoon disasters across India
- ▪A three-story building collapsed at a waste-to-energy plant in Pune, Maharashtra, after a massive garbage mound crashed on it, trapping at least 17 people
- ▪Heavy monsoon rains in India triggered a landslide at a tunnel project construction site in Wayanad, Kerala, killing five people
- ▪A building collapse in New Delhi amid heavy rainfall killed three people, prompting the Delhi government to work on tackling waterlogging
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