Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar may lead a delegation of Indian officials to Seoul for the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) meeting, where India’s application for membership will be discussed on June 23-24.
India is engaged in hectic lobbying for the last several months, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself making a pitch for safety of radioactive materials during the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington in March this year.
Modi also made a last-minute tour to Mexico and Switzerland to seek their support. Both these nations had raised objections to the NSG waiver given to India in 2008. Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and FS Jaishankar too have been actively engaging with the 48-member grouping to convince them for India’s candidature. Senior official from Ministry of External Affairs, Amandeep Singh Gill, in-charge of Disarmament and International Security division, is already in Seoul to garner support and explain India’s case during the official-level session of NSG, that began on Monday.
The Foreign Secretary is watching the situation very closely and, depending on the feedback from the official-level meeting of NSG, he may travel to Seoul to give a “final push” during the crucial plenary on Thursday and Friday in the South Korean capital.
China is the main opponent to India’s application and has hyphenated Pakistan’s application with India, seeking its entry too in the NSG if New Delhi was inducted.
China is using the clause on Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to block India, since New Delhi is not signatory to treaty. China has also been protesting against the 2008 waiver India has. India has asserted that, being a signatory to the NPT is not essential for joining the NSG, citing the precedent of France. India is seeking NSG membership for ease of trade and export of nuclear technology.
It is believed Modi will personally seek Chinese President Xi Jinping’s support for India’s case, when he travels to Tashkent for Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit on June 24.
On the other hand, USA and Russia are some of the countries that have thrown weight behind India and arecampaigning for it.
NSG regulates global trade in nuclear technology and its membership is expected to open up the international market for India, which plans to shift to nuclear power for its ambitious energy generation programme.
India has set an ambitious target of generating 63,000 MW of nuclear energy by 2030. The NSG looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology. Membership of the grouping will help India significantly expand its atomic energy sector.