AUSTRALIAN GOVT TO CONSIDER URANIUM SALES TO INDIA 'FAIRLY SOON'.

CANBERRA, August 1 Asia Pulse - Australia is vowing to strengthen its ties with India as federal cabinet prepares to consider selling uranium to the sub-continent "fairly soon".

India has wanted to buy Australian uranium for more than a year and any positive move in that direction could help take some of the pressure off relations between the two countries, which are currently strained over the Dr Mohamed Haneef case.

Foreign Minister Alexander Downer Tuesday confirmed the issue would soon be on the cabinet agenda as a nuclear deal between India and the United States reaches finalisation.

The US-India deal falls outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) but provides for international inspections of more than half of India's nuclear reactors.

Mr Downer, in the Philippines for a meeting of south-east Asian nations, lauded the agreement as a historic deal which was "very much in Australia's interests".

The federal government believes the pact provides an appropriate, new nuclear safeguards structure, potentially opening the door for Australian uranium sales.

"India's commitment to separate its civil and military nuclear facilities enabling expansion of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards will help to bring India more fully into the non-proliferation mainstream," Mr Downer said in a statement.