Uranium deal, maritime roadmap: PM Modi’s Australia visit set to deepen strategic partnership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia is expected to deliver a major boost to bilateral ties, with New Delhi and Canberra likely to finalise a commercial uranium supply agreement, strengthen maritime and defence cooperation, and accelerate trade negotiations.

Modi arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday from Indonesia as part of his three-nation tour, which will also take him to New Zealand. He is scheduled to hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday.

Key outcomes expected

• Commercial uranium supply pact: India and Australia are expected to conclude a long-awaited agreement on the commercial supply of uranium, building on the 2014 Civil Nuclear Agreement. The deal will support India’s ambitious plan to expand nuclear power generation to 100 GW by 2047. Australia, which holds nearly one-third of the world’s uranium reserves, has so far made only one uranium shipment to India, in 2017.
• Boost for India’s nuclear ambitions: The agreement comes after India’s SHANTI Act revamped the nuclear sector and follows a major uranium supply deal signed earlier this year with Canada’s Cameco. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India plans to build 18 additional reactors as part of the country’s clean energy expansion.
• New maritime security roadmap: The two countries are expected to unveil a Joint Maritime Security Collaboration Roadmap aimed at enhancing maritime domain awareness, joint surveillance, and broader Indo-Pacific cooperation. The initiative will deepen defence collaboration between the two Quad partners.
• Security partnership to be upgraded: India and Australia are also set to refresh their 2009 Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation to reflect expanded defence ties, including regular military dialogues, complex naval exercises, and the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement signed in 2021, which allows reciprocal access to military bases.

Focus on Indo-Pacific and trade

Officials say Modi’s visit will reinforce India’s MAHASAGAR and Indo-Pacific vision by strengthening strategic coordination with Australia amid evolving regional security challenges.

Economic ties will also feature prominently. Modi will address the India-Australia CEOs Forum as both countries negotiate an upgrade of their interim trade pact into a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA). Since the Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (ECTA) came into force in 2022, India’s exports to Australia have more than doubled—from $4 billion in 2020-21 to $8.5 billion in 2024-25—while total bilateral trade reached $24.1 billion last year.

In a rare diplomatic gesture, Australia’s Governor-General Sam Mostyn will travel from Canberra to Melbourne to meet Modi. The Prime Minister will also join Albanese at a community event at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium, celebrating the nearly one million people of Indian origin who now form a key pillar of the India-Australia relationship.