MELBOURNE : Australia is set to strengthen its strategic partnerships in the Indo-Pacific by signing a new security agreement with Fiji and finalising a long-awaited uranium export agreement with India during a series of high-level engagements this week, according to media reports.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is scheduled to visit Fiji on Monday to sign the Vuvale Union with Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. The agreement is expected to significantly deepen bilateral security cooperation between the two countries.
Reports indicate that the Vuvale Union will be similar in scope to Australia’s mutual defence treaty with Papua New Guinea, which is expected to come into effect this week. The pact forms part of Australia’s broader strategy to reinforce its security and policing partnerships across the Pacific, including with Papua New Guinea, Tuvalu, Nauru and Indonesia, amid increasing geopolitical competition in the region.
The proposed agreement builds on the Vuvale Partnership established in 2019. Australia and Fiji reached an in-principle understanding on the enhanced arrangement in May and have since been working to finalise its provisions.
Later this week, Prime Minister Albanese is expected to meet Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in Melbourne, where the two leaders are likely to conclude an agreement enabling Australia to export uranium to India.
According to reports, both countries have successfully resolved outstanding technical issues relating to nuclear non-proliferation safeguards, paving the way for the long-awaited uranium export arrangement. The agreement is expected to further strengthen the strategic partnership between Australia and India while supporting cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy.
