The action centred around Tashkent, where Modi met Xi on the sidelines of the Shanghai Corporation Organisation (SCO) summit, and Seoul, where the two-day plenary began on Thursday.
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China said that NSG members are now open to hold discussions on including India and other members that have not signed the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).
Mehta said India’s association with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) dates back to 2005 when New Delhi attended as an observer for the first time.
Asked whether India will become a full member of the SCO, she said there was a schedule laid down for India to sign over 30 other documents and it will happen as the year goes by.
The department has also reiterated today that Pakistan is making efforts for membership of Pakistan Nuclear Suppliers Group.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan’s President Mamnoon Hussain will represent their respective countries at the event.
Modi is likely to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and take up with him the issue of India’s NSG membership.
The Tashkent SCO Summit in June 2010 had lifted the moratorium on new membership, paving the way for expansion of the grouping.
Apart from that, the Russian and Chinese leaders plans to “agree to boost cooperation within worldwide format”, Ushakov said, adding that Moscow and Beijing “have almost identical or close position on literally all key issues of the global agenda”.
Talking about the implications of these developments, Janjua cautioned that American policies would ultimately bring Pakistan even closer to China. “We believe, and this has been USA policy for some time, that India is ready for membership and the U.S. calls on participating governments to support India’s application”, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters.
After the n-deal – and the “exception” made by NSG, India is no longer a nuclear pariah, and while NSG remains relevant for broader goals, its original cause of keeping New Delhi out is irrelevant now.
China’s stance on Tuesday marks a complete shift from its earlier stance that India’s application to join the 48-member nuclear club should not be on the agenda of the NSG’s plenary meeting in Seoul, which is scheduled for June 23-24. He will be meeting the host, the present Chair of the SCO, President Karimov of Uzbekistan, tomorrow.
“India is glad to be a member of the SCO and looks forward to fruitful outcomes particularly in the field of economic cooperation through SCO”.
“Joining the SCO will better facilitate access to Central Asia for India and Pakistan, which is no small matter given that two major transport projects they’re involved in – the CPEC and Chabahar – envision a big role for Central Asia”, says Michael Kugelman, a South Asia expert at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars.
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“I must also tell you that Pakistan has all the credentials to be a part of the NSG”.
