India in MTCR
India (on June 27, 2016) became the 35th
full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). This entry would
be mutually beneficial to enhance global non-proliferation norms. The
instrument of accession to MTCR for India was signed in New Delhi by Foreign
Secretary S Jaishankar. The entry also marks India's first entry into any
multilateral export control regime.
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.
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India's entry into the regime as its thirty-fifth
member would be mutually beneficial in the furtherance of international
non-proliferation objectives.
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It entered this multilateral export control regime
with the support of all thirty-four MTCR Partners. In 2015, India’s membership
to the group was blocked by Italy.
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MTCR membership will now enable India to buy high-end
missile technology and also enhance its joint ventures with Russia.
What is MTCR?
Set up in 1987 by G-7 countries, the aim
of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket
systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable
of carrying a 500 kilogram payload for at least 300 kilometres, as well as
systems intended for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction.
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India's entry into MTCR comes days after it failed to
get Nuclear Supplier Group (NSG) membership due to stiff opposition from China
and six other countries, namely Austria, Brazil, Ireland, Mexico, New Zealand,
South Africa and Switzerland. Turkey remained neutral. NSG is the 48-country
cartel that controls nuclear exports.
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Significantly, China, which stonewalled India's entry
into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the just-concluded Seoul
plenary, is not a member of MTCR.
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India’s inclusion to the Missile Technology Control
Regime means strengthening its own export controls, which will help it to
justify transferring sensitive technology to India in front of other MTCR
members.
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Further, this may pave the way for India becoming the
member of NSG, Wassenaar Agreement (conventional arms & dual-use goods and
technologies) and Australia Group (chemical weapons).
MTCR: Top five things to know
» MTCR
membership will enable India to buy high-end missile technology and also
enhance its joint ventures with Russia.
» MTCR aims
at restricting the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned
air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500
kilogramme payload for at least 300 kilometres, as well as systems intended for
the delivery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
» India’s
efforts to get into the MTCR also got a boost after it agreed to join the Hague
Code of Conduct, dealing with the ballistic missile non-proliferation
arrangement, earlier this month.
» India’s
membership had been blocked in 2015 by Italy, which seemed to link it to the
standoff over the detention of the Italian marines. With the return of the
second marine, Salvatore Girone, to Rome on May 29, the sources said, “Italy is
no longer blocking the consensus.”
» China,
which stonewalled India’s entry into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group
(NSG) at the just-concluded Seoul plenary, is not a member of 34-nation MTCR.
