India is all set to join missile control regime

NEW DELHI: India is on course to become the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this week as the first stage on the way to entry into the

NEW DELHI: India is on course to become the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this week as the first stage on the way to entry into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG).

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The MTCR membership, a move that has US support, will allow India to export and import missile technology subject to non-proliferation rules. Membership of the NSG will greatly boost India’s quest for clean nuclear power.

“We expect the membership of MTCR to be announced on June 7 when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Washington. India has been a unilateral adherent of MTCR since 2008 and has more than fulfilled all its commitments, including signing of the Hague Missile Code,” a top Modi government official told Hindustan Times on condition of anonymity.

Ministry of External Affairs officials, however, continue to be evasive, saying that India’s entry into the multi-lateral regime will be completed this summer now that the Reinforced Point of Contact meeting of MTCR officials this April has gone as per Indian plans. Unlike the NSG, China is still not a member of MTCR, a body formed by consensus.