New Delhi/Mumbai, Sep 04 (ANI): Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott arrived in Mumbai on Thursday morning to sign a long-awaited deal to sell uranium to his energy-starved hosts and strengthen bilateral ties. Tony Abbott told parliament in Canberra that he hoped to sign a deal this week to sell uranium to India for peaceful power generation, but halted uranium exports to Russia over Moscow's role in Ukraine. Work on an India-Australia agreement has been underway since Australia, which has 40 percent of the world's known uranium reserves, lifted a long-standing ban on selling uranium to energy-starved India in 2012. Nuclear-armed India and Australia have been working on a safeguards agreement since then to ensure any uranium exports from Australia are used purely for peaceful purposes. So far India and Australia have had five rounds of negotiations on the nuclear pact. Bhattacharya added that India expects significant outcome from the visit to further enhance bilateral partnership. During his two-day visit, India and Australia would look at ways to deepen strategic ties and strengthen two-way trade and commerce. Abbott is visiting India and Malaysia as he seeks to deepen trade and personal ties in Asia ahead of the Group of 20 Leaders Summit scheduled to take place in Brisbane i
