THE Federal Government has told India it will not reconsider its refusal to sell it uranium until it signs the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

But it has also offered a hint that it might soften its approach if India negotiates appropriate conditions in its talks with the US on uranium supplies.

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, in Canberra yesterday that Australia was watching carefully the progress of the so-called 123 negotiations on uranium supplies between India and the US.

"And I made it clear to the minister today … that if and when the 123 Agreement gets to either the International Atomic Energy Agency or the Nuclear Suppliers Group, the NSG, Australia will then give consideration to what its attitude to that agreement is," he said.

Australia now had to take its relationship with India to the front line of international partnerships.