When Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard started her three-day official visit to India this week, the export of uranium from Australia to India is on top of her agenda.

Although Gillard had made it clear that the negotiations between the two countries over the uranium export may take years instead of months, it is still considered by media and analysts as the most important part of her visit.

There are good reasons for the world to follow it closely as Australia, hosting 23 percent of the world's known uranium reserves,has recorded a shift of polices over the past five years.

Australia had long adopted the policy of banning the export of Australian nuclear material to countries that have not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) until the Howard government moved away from it in 2007.

The then Prime Minister John Howard announced that the export of uranium to India, a non-NPT signatory, would be allowed under " strict conditions".

However, the Kevin Rudd Labor Government, following its election in November 2007, reinstated a policy of not exporting uranium to countries that had not ratified the NPT.

This again was overturned at a Labor Party National Conference in December 2011 by a vote of 206-185 on an amendment proposed by Gillard.

When Howard abandoned the ban, he quoted a number of reasons, including India being a democratic country, a growing regional power with rising energy needs and "strong non-proliferation record", as well as global environmental challenges, and Australia 's desire to strengthen bilateral relations with India.

In addition to those, the Gillard government has one more reason to quote after the nuclear disaster in Japan last year.

Media reports said Gillard visited India aiming to open up a new market after appetite for nuclear fuel waned in the wake of Japan's Fukushima disaster. Australian resources and energy companies are feeling the bite of falling revenues resulted from commodity price drops and an increasingly uncertain future of a peaked mining boom.

The price of uranium for immediate delivery, which soared to a record 136 Australian dollars a pound in 2007, declined to a two- year low last month and was trading at 45.75 Australian dollars on Oct. 8, according to Ux Consulting, a Roswell, Georgia-based uranium information provider.

On the other hand, India, the world's second-most populous nation,has been suffering a power shortfall that curtails annual economic growth by as much as 1.2 percentage points. India regards nuclear energy as a solution.

India is also taken as a possible alternative to power Australian economy, since China, currently Australia's largest trading partner and export market, deliberately slows its economic growth for a more sustainable development.

Bilateral trade between India and Australia is worth almost 18 billion Australian dollars and sees an annual increase of around 16 percent over the past five years. India was ranked 6th among Australia's merchandise trading partners in 2010-2011.

"India, one of the fastest growing major economies, stands in the front rank of Australia's international partnerships and will be a key part of Australia's future in the Asian Century," Gillard said in a statement before her visit to India.

Australia is the third major exporter of uranium to countries like the United States, UK, China, Japan, South Korea, among others. In all cases,the recipient country and Australia have concluded a bilateral treaty,which fulfills the Australian nuclear safeguards requirements. (One Australian dollar equals 1.03 U.S. dollars)