India now in elite club that controls missile tech export.

New Delhi: Days after India failed to join NSG, the government signed itself into a more exclusive non-proliferation regime, Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), joining an exclusive club of countries controlling export of missile technology.

Foreign secretary S Jaishankar signed the instrument of accession to MTCR, aimed at preventing unchecked proliferation of missiles and their delivery systems. In a statement, MEA thanked the other 34 members of the MTCR for supporting India's inclusion into the group. Jaishankar signed the document in the presence of the ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"India's entry into the regime as its thirty-fifth member would be mutually beneficial in the furtherance of international non-proliferation objectives," the statement said.

India applied to join MTCR in 2015, but its membership was blocked by Italy on the issue of the marines. Italy lifted its block after India agreed to send the marines home.

India was kept out of NSG after opposition by China. MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India will continue talking to China on NSG.

He said, "We are going to continue this discussion. It is going to be an important element of our discussions. We will continue to impress upon them that relationships move forward on the basis of mutual accommodation of each other's interests."

Last week, India was kept out of NSG after determined opposition by China. Unusually for the Indian government, MEA actually pointed fingers at Beijing. But MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup said India would continue talking to China on NSG at multiple levels.

"We are going to continue discussing this with China. This is going to be an important element of our discussions with China. We will continue to impress upon them that relationships move forward on the basis of mutual accommodation of each other's interests, concerns and priorities," Swarup said. China is not a member of MTCR with its membership request pending since 2004.

MTCR aims at restricting proliferation of missiles, rocket systems, unmanned air 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.

Source : timesofindia.indiatimes.com