Mr Abbott predicted a rosy future for both Australia and India depicting the latter as the emerging democratic super-power of the world, while also outlining his desire to see Australia emerge as "an energy superpower". Prime Minister Tony Abbott has settled the terms of a deal to ship uranium to India. Credit:Andrew Meares He said there was no reason why in coming years, the Indian market could not come to rival the North Asian markets of China, Japan, and Korea, which are hungry for Australian energy and resources. However, Australia's two-way trade with India lags well behind China, which at about $150 billion a year is some 10 times the $15-billion value of the Indian exchange. The comments came before the official signing of the uranium deal in the Indian capital on Friday.

"Whether it takes a year, two years, that's really a matter for the market to determine," he said of actual uranium shipments "India has a strong nuclear energy program, Australia has very large reserves on uranium. "I do want Australia to be an energy superpower in the years ahead. We have large reserves of uranium. We have massive reserves of coal. We have extensive reserves of gas. We are the world's second largest thermal coal exporter." Mr Abbott nominated the proposed Adani mine which, if it proceeds, would be Australia's largest coal mine. "That will power the lives of 100 million Indians. It's one of the minor miracles of our time: that Australian coal could improve the lives of 100 million Indians, and it just goes to show what good that freer trade can do for the whole world."

Gautam Adani, the Indian mining magnate who has won federal approval for the mine that would ship millions of tonnes of coal through the Great Barrier Reef is facing accusations of massive exploitation of his Indian workforce and poor environmental practices at his developments in India. Mr Abbott, begins his second and final day on Fridayin India, in the country's landlocked capital. The sprawling metropolis boasting a comparable population to that of Australia, is a powerful example of Indian developmental challenge and of the vast spectrum of wealth. Some houses in the leafy bungalow suburbs sell for tens of millions of dollars while at the same time millions of people in the greater city area live in abject poverty and suffer with an energy supply which can be patchy. The capital recently experienced brown-outs – power failures caused by insatiable demand for air conditioning due to extreme temperatures in the mid 40s. Mr Abbott praised the country's achievements, noting that when he was first here as a backpacker 33 years ago, he watched material being transported into nuclear power plants by bullock cart.

But critics say the Australian supply of uranium to a non-signatory country to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is dangerous and irresponsible, with the risk of Australian fissile material finding its way into nuclear weapons, or freeing up other fissile material for that purpose. Mr Abbott said he was satisfied that neither would occur. "It's not our job to try to tell India how to conduct its internal affairs," he said. "These are the commitments that we've got from the Indian government, and India has an absolutely impeccable non-proliferation record – an absolutely impeccable non-proliferation record – and India has been a model international citizen. Loading

"India threatens no one. India is the friend to many. India is the world's emerging democratic superpower, and this (uranium deal) is an important sign of the mutual trust that exists between Australia and India," he said. Follow us on Twitter