India will become the 35th member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this week as the members of the international anti-proliferation grouping agreed to admit India in the regime, diplomats said on Tuesday. The development is not only a diplomatic victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi who met US President Barack Obama in Washington on Tuesday, but it also burnishes India’s credentials for the membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group(NSG).
Addressing the media jointly with Modi after over hour-long talks at the White House, Obama said, “I indicated support to India being a part of NSG.” Modi later said, "I am thankful for the help and support that my friend President Obama has extended with regard to membership in MTCR and NSG.”
Diplomats with direct knowledge of the matter said a deadline for members of the 34-nation group to object to India’s admission had expired on Monday without any raising objections. Under this ‘silent procedure’, India’s admission follows automatically, diplomats from four MTCR member nations told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Sources said that India’s strategy was to first bag a membership of the other export control regime, MTCR, to make entry into NSG club easier. The ongoing five-nation visit of Modi includes three NSG countries — the US, Switzerland, and Mexico.
Obama was expected to say he was looking forward to India’s “imminent entry” into the MTCR when he and Modi address the press after their seventh bilateral meeting, sources aware of its agenda said. A senior Obama administration official told PTI, “We do expect that India will join MTCR very quickly. I think things are moving positively.”
The major breakthrough comes days after India announced that it is subscribing to “The Hague Code of Conduct” against ballistic missile proliferation, which is considered to be complementary to the MTCR. India had applied for its membership last year.
The Obama Administration has strongly backed India’s membership into MTCR and three other export control regimes — Australia Group, Nuclear Suppliers Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy surveillance drones such as the Predator, made by General Atomics.
India makes a supersonic cruise missile, the Brahmos, in a joint venture with Russia that both countries hope to sell to third countries, a development that would make India a significant arms exporter for the first time. Membership of the MTCR would require India to comply with rules such as a maximum missile range of 300 km that seek to prevent arms races from developing.
Italy had objected to admitting India but, after an unrelated bilateral dispute was resolved, did not object this time within a 10-day deadline after the group’s chair, the Netherlands, wrote to members suggesting India be welcomed.
An Italian marine, held for four years at the country’s embassy in New Delhi over the killing of two Indian fishermen in an anti-piracy operation in 2012, was recently allowed to return home. A US congressional source confirmed that India’s membership in the missile control group was expected, as Modi visited Washington. “In my mind, the hurdle was the Italian veto over the Indian arrest of the Italian marine. Now that the marine has been released, I think it appears that yes, admission will be granted,” he said.
No formal meeting is required for India to complete its entry into the group, set up in 1987 to limit the spread of unmanned systems capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.
New Delhi has also applied to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), a 48-nation club that governs trade in commercial nuclear technology and was originally set up in response to India’s first atomic weapons test in 1974. Joining the NSG will be much more difficult because China is a member and has backed the membership aspirations of Pakistan, its ally and India’s arch-rival.
Still, the breakthrough on the MTCR will be welcomed in the US Congress, which Modi will address on Wednesday. Congress ratified a civilian nuclear agreement with India in 2008 that seeks to build commercial ties, while at the same time binding New Delhi into the global security order.
Ahead of the summit, US-based nuclear reactor maker Westinghouse, a unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp, has made progress toward a deal to build six reactors in India’s southern state of Andhra Pradesh. A deal, if completed, would be the first to stem from the civil nuclear accord.
“On NSG, there is a process that is still ongoing. I do not think the NSG plenary is not meeting until later in this month. let’s see how it goes but the US is absolutely, categorically, unreservedly committed to India’s membership in the NSG. The US and India and other friendly countries are working actively together to see that India get there,” the official, who requested anonymity, added.
Established in April 1987, the voluntary MTCR aims to limit the spread of ballistic missiles and other unmanned delivery systems that could be used for chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks. The MTCR regime urges its 34 members, which include most of the world’s key missile manufacturers, to restrict their exports of missiles and related technologies capable of carrying a 500-kilogramme payload at least 300 kilometres or delivering any type of weapon of mass destruction.
Since 2008, India has been one of the five countries that are Unilateral Adherents to MTCR.
After MTCR’s announcement, India and the US are expected to fast-track their discussion on sale of predator series of unmanned aircraft for the Indian military.