{"id":788568,"date":"2026-07-09T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788568\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T06:00:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T06:00:16","slug":"modi-and-albanese-to-ink-major-uranium-deal-as-indian-leaders-visit-expected-to-draw-30000-strong-crowd-australian-foreign-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788568\/","title":{"rendered":"Modi and Albanese to ink major uranium deal as Indian leader\u2019s visit expected to draw 30,000-strong crowd | Australian foreign policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anthony Albanese is poised to sign a major uranium deal with India, praising counterpart Narendra Modi and the nation\u2019s diaspora for deepening economic ties.<\/p>\n

It could end more than a decade of delays to regular shipments of the fuel despite the two countries signing a historic nuclear cooperation pact.<\/p>\n

The Indian prime minister is in the country for three days and will later on Thursday address 30,000 members of the Indian-Australian community<\/a> in what is expected to be a loud rally at Melbourne\u2019s Marvel Stadium.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a business event in the city alongside Modi, Albanese said for all the \u201cbroad affection between our peoples\u201d the relationship between the countries was \u201cunderdone, under-explored and under-examined\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last decade or so, that has certainly changed for the better,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrime minister Modi, your leadership and your personal engagement with Australia has been absolutely central to this change.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so has the drive and determination of the business leaders in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

While details of the proposed nuclear pact are thin, Australia and India<\/a> signed a civil nuclear deal in 2014 but regular shipments of uranium haven\u2019t occurred amid concerns the fuel could be used for weapons.<\/p>\n

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While few national leaders can lay claim to drawing a crowd of tens of thousands during an international diplomatic visit, Modi is an exception.<\/p>\n

The Indian diaspora throughout Australia are making their way to Melbourne in large numbers for a glimpse of the leader of the world\u2019s most populous nation.<\/p>\n

Modi was one of three types of people who were \u201cvery popular\u201d in his homeland, Canberra India Council chair Deepak-Raj Gupta said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPoliticians, Bollywood stars and cricket players,\u2019\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter who you are if you fall into one of those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gupta has travelled to Melbourne with his wife and a contingent of friends to attend as many Modi-related events as possible.<\/p>\n

But Modi is also one of the world\u2019s most polarising political leaders.<\/p>\n

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Human rights groups such as Amnesty International have condemned him for declines in India\u2019s living standards, including targeting of journalists and academics through anti-terror legislation.<\/p>\n

Marginal religious groups including Muslims and Christians have also been targeted.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, Modi was able to unite the Indian diaspora in a way no one else could, Australian Multicultural Action Network president Ravi Krishnamurthy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe look for connection [between Australia and India]. There is pride in adding to Australia\u2019s multicultural community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Krishnamurthy said he hoped there would be more conversations about two-way trade and tertiary education deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cBusinesses here are starting to invest in India,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Australian Federal Police formally warned a young person who had made a death threat towards Modi ahead of his arrival in Australia.<\/p>\n

A far-right influencer also gatecrashed the Melbourne hotel where the Indian prime minister is staying, before being thrown out by police.<\/p>\n

He posted a video of his late-night tirade where he yelled \u201cfuck Modi\u201d in the hotel\u2019s lobby.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese is poised to sign a major uranium deal with India, praising counterpart Narendra Modi and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788569,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-788568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788568\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}