The decks for the import of uranium by India have been cleared with India and Australia inking a pact on civil nuclear energy deal.

The pact was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott in New Delhi this evening.

The nuclear deal will form a high point in the ongoing transformation of India-Australia relations.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the signing of the nuclear deal as a historic step and a new chapter in the Indo-Australian relations. In his opening remarks, Mr Modi said, both the countries agreed to further deepen bilateral relations.

He said, Australia is India's important strategic partner and can play a pivotal role in its development. He said there is enormous scope of cooperation in manufacturing and infrastructure sectors.

Mr Modi said India and Australian must prioritize promoting peace and prosperity in the India Ocean and Asia Pacific region. Mr Modi said, both the sides will strengthen their economic relationship and India welcomes Australian investment.

He said, India and Australia will increase their security cooperation to counter terrorism, cyber threats and other security challenges. The two sides agreed on bilateral maritime exercise to be next year.

The Australian Prime Minster Tony Abbott said, his country signed the nuclear deal with New Delhi as it trusts India to do the right thing in this area. Mr Abbott acknowledged India as emerging democratic superpower.

Our correspondent reports, the efforts to sign civil nuclear deal were underway since 2012 after Labour party in Australia reversed its decision to ban the sale of uranium to India because of New Delhi not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT.

The negotiations took place on uranium sales after Canberra lifted a long-time ban on exporting the valuable ore to Delhi to meet its ambitious nuclear energy programme.

India is not a signatory to the NPT, but Austrialian Prime Minister Abbott has stressed that Australia will ensure adequate bilateral safeguards. After the failure to conclude a civil nuclear deal with Japan during Modi's visit to that country, the pact with Australia will boost India's energy sector.

Australia has about a third of the world's recoverable uranium resources and exports nearly seven thousand tonnes of it a year.

Our correspondent reports that three other agreements were signed in the areas of water resources management, sports and technical and vocational education and Training.