NEW DELHI: India and Australia scripted history on Friday by signing a civil nuclear deal for the supply of uranium to the country’s nuclear reactors, taking their partnership to a new level. The deal was signed following a dialogue between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Australian PM Tony Abbott , the first head of government to visit India since the BJP-led government assumed power in May this year.Abbott was given full state honours during his two-day visit. The deal is strategically significant and will set the template for other countries as it is Canberra’s first nuclear deal with a Non-Nuclear, Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) signatory country, official sources told ET. The negotiations for the nuclear deal with Canberra have been among the least troublesome that Delhi had with countries with which it is seeking civil nuke cooperation. The culmination of these five rounds of talks resulted in this deal.Since India received unconditional waiver from Nuclear Suppliers Group in September 2008, it has signed civil nuclear deals with all P-5 members barring China — USA, Russia, France and UK — for supply of reactors and technology. Deals were also signed with Canada, Kazakhstan, Argentina, Namibia and Mongolia for supply of uranium as well as reactors, nuclear technology and waste management. But despite negotiations for the past four years, a deal with Japan remains elusive over India’s non-NPT status and reprocessing rights.The negotiations between the two sides have been on since 2012 after the then ruling Labour Party reversed its decision to ban the uranium sale to India because New Delhi has not signed the NPT. Abbott’s Conservative Party, however, had long favoured selling uranium, or yellow cake, to India. Days ahead of the visit, Abbott went to extent of saying if Australia was prepared to sell uranium to Russia, then “surely we ought to be prepared to provide uranium to India under suitable safeguards”.