Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao flew out of Australia on Tuesday, the day after overseeing the inking of a landmark deal clearing the way for Canberra to sell billions of dollars worth of uranium to Beijing for use in its nuclear power stations.

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (R) laughs as he listens to Australian Prime Minister John Howard during a media conference in Canberra's Parliament House April 3, 2006. Australia and China signed a nuclear safeguards deal on Monday to allow Beijing to import Australian uranium for power generation, but an Australian minister said exports were unlikely to start for some years. [Reuters]

After flying out of the capital, Canberra, Wen met briefly with the leader of New South Wales state, Premier Morris Iemma, at Sydney airport before jetting to Fiji for talks with South Pacific leaders.

In Canberra on Monday, the foreign ministers of China and Australia signed two agreements intended to ensure Beijing does not divert Australian nuclear fuel into its atomic weapons program.

China has been negotiating for months to buy uranium from Australia, which has 40 percent of the world's known uranium deposits.

"These agreements establish strict safeguards, arrangements and conditions to ensure Australian uranium supplied to China, and any collaborative programs in applications of nuclear technology, is used exclusively for peaceful purposes," Australian Foreign Minister Alexander DownerDowner said in a statement.