NEW DELHI: Days after its failed bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group, India regained lost ground on Monday and made history by joining the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), as a full member. The MTCR is a partnership among 35 countries to curb the proliferation of missile and unmanned aerial vehicle technology. India’s first entry into any multilateral export control regime would be mutually beneficial to enhance global non-proliferation norms, said the Ministry of External Affairs.
The aim of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned aerial vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500 kg payload for at least 300 km, as well as systems intended for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Foreign secretary S Jaishankar signed the instrument of accession to MTCR here in the presence of France’s ambassador-designate Alexandre Ziegler, The Netherlands’ ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga and Luxembourg’s chargé d’affaires Laure Huberty. “India joined the MTCR this morning as its 35th member,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Significantly, China, which stonewalled India’s entry into the 48-nation NSG, is not a member of the MTCR. Its application to join the elite group is pending.
“India would like to thank each of the 34 MTCR partners for their support for India’s membership. We would also like to thank ambassador Pieter de Klerk of The Netherlands and Robert Steinmetz of Luxembourg, co-chairs of the MTCR,” it added. The MTCR point of contact in Paris conveyed the decision regarding India’s accession to the regime through the French Embassy in New Delhi as well as the embassies of The Netherlands and Luxembourg, it said.
After its civil N-deal with US, India has been trying to get into export control regimes like NSG, MTCR and Wassenaar Arrangement that regulate conventional, nuclear, biological and chemical weapons and technologies.