New Delhi Sep 18 (IANS): In keeping with Chinese President's Xi Jinping's hope expressed here Thursday on taking the bilateral strategic and cooperative partnership to a higher plane, India will open talks on civil nuclear energy cooperation with China, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said.

"On civil nuclear cooperation we are taking some steps that will take energy cooperation to a new level," Modi said at a media conference after summit talks with China's president.

"We will begin the process of discussions on civil nuclear energy cooperation that will bolster our broader cooperation on energy security," he added.

The announcement comes after the agreement during Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot's visit here last month, to buy uranium from Australia by which India can fuel its nuclear plants.

On his visit to Japan earlier, Modi and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to accelerate talks on a nuclear energy pact.

India has faced sanctions on engaging in nuclear trade after testing nuclear weapons in 1998, but a consensus resolution of the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in 2008 exempted India from its rule of prohibiting trade with non-members of the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

China is a member of the NSG.

Ahead of Xi's visit, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jianchao told journalists that China had a "positive attitude" towards nuclear cooperation with India.

India now has nuclear energy agreements with around a dozen countries and imports uranium from France, Russia and Kazakhstan. Russia has also built the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu.