A meeting of the NSG later today in Vienna is scheduled to discuss India’s membership application which will be followed by another meeting on June 24 in Seoul.
Advertisement
The MTCR is one of four worldwide non-proliferation regimes from which India had been excluded, the others being the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Australia Group (AG) and Wassenaar Arrangement (WA).
However, China continues to maintain opposition to India’s entry, arguing that it has not signed Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). The NSG works under the principle of consensus and even one country’s vote against India will scuttle its bid.
India has become the 35 country to be admitted to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), a major worldwide anti-proliferation group of which Russian Federation is a key member.
The US is not only supporting India’s application but is also encouraging other countries, including China, to back the Indian move.
The industry is ready to meet global obligations to ensure that manufacture and trade of dual use items are not diverted or re-exported for unauthorized use, Ficci said hoping that the United States will push for India’s membership at the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
However, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reports, Islamabad cautions NSG that country specific exemptions would negatively impact strategic stability in South Asia. “The need of the hour is for us to deepen our security cooperation”, Modi said.
India has been reaching out to NSG member countries seeking support to its membership. It will also enable India and Russian Federation to sell the supersonic “BrahMos” missile, which has a range of 290 kilometres, to third countries.
FICCI also said it will support the India-US partnership in high technology in crucial areas and will allow high value technology enabled trade for projects under “Make in India” initiative. The issue had figured prominently during talks between Modi and US President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday.
The Times of India Saturday said New Delhi is refraining from openly criticising China over its opposition to India’s membership bid, as it believes demonising Beijing would have a negative effect.
Mexico supported India’s membership because of Modi’s “commitment to the agenda of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation”, Pena Nieto said. Earlier Modi also won support of Switzerland on the issue.
The 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group controls access to sensitive nuclear technology.
Advertisement
This week’s reported nuclear breakthroughs were seen as a major point of progress for Modi, who has placed new urgency on India’s nuclear ambitions with the aim of vastly expanding atomic power to account for about half of the country’s total electricity supply by 2050.
