CANBERRA - The Australian government says it will soon begin negotiating with the United Arab Emirates to sell uranium to the Middle Eastern country on condition that it is only used for peaceful power generation.

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A government statement says Wednesday that Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd announced the negotiations on a bilateral uranium trade agreement while visiting the UAE capital of Abu Dhabi.

Rudd says the UAE planned to have a nuclear generator operating by 2017 to meet future domestic electricity demand.