India will soon join missile treaty club

Rome had stalled New Delhi’s entry last year over the Marines’ trial

June 07, 2016 08:23 pm | Updated December 04, 2021 10:54 pm IST - NEW DELHI

Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the U.S. Predator (in picture).

Admission to the MTCR would open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, also making more realistic its aspiration to buy state-of-the-art surveillance drones such as the U.S. Predator (in picture).

India came closer to the first of four nuclear regimes it is trying to gain entry into, with countries belonging to the 34-member Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) raising no objection to India’s membership later this year.

Diplomatic sources confirmed to The Hindu that after a proposal, circulated by the current Dutch chairperson of MTCR, had met with no objection by the deadline on Monday, India’s membership is a “done deal”, with only “formalities and protocol” remaining. The government didn't officially comment on the development, but at a press conference in Washington after the Modi-Obama meet, Foreign Secretary Jaishankar said that President Obama had welcomed "our imminent entry" into MTCR.

Meanwhile, the MTCR chair has now begun the next stage of formalities for India, which require each of the 34 member countries to send a “diplomatic note” stating formally that they accept India’s membership. “This could take weeks or even months, given the internal processes of each country,” an official well-versed with the procedure said. India will also soon receive membership documents which it must ratify and return, the official told The Hindu.

India’s membership had been blocked in 2015 by Italy, that 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.”

Procedural formalities

“Mission almost accomplished,” said former Chair of the MTCR Norwegian diplomat Roald Naess in a tweet on Monday, adding that “Only some procedural formalities remain before India becomes member of MTCR.” Speaking to The Hindu from Dublin, Mr. Naess, who was the Chair in 2015, said India’s membership to the MTCR had been “a priority from the start”, recounting how a block had been placed on the emerging consensus just three weeks before the plenary in Rotterdam last year.

“We look forward now to India joining the annual plenary session in October 2016 in Seoul this year as a member,” Mr. Naess said over the telephone.

Access to missile tech

Entry to the Missile regime, which regulates nuclear proliferation by restricting export of missiles carrying more than “500-kilogramme payload with a range of at least 300 kilometres”, as well as “unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) with mass destruction capabilities”, is expected to clear the way for India to export high-tech missiles and purchase hardware like the U.S. Predator drones.

India is also hopeful of building on the MTCR entry with membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group, and the Australian and Wassenaar arrangements next. However, experts say the MTCR membership is clearly different from the NSG, which will take up India’s application at a special session this week.

Top News Today

Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.