India on Tuesday made a strong pitch for membership in four exclusive nuclear clubs, saying this would help strengthen its export control systems and maintain the high international standards of its nuclear programme.
India is keen to secure membership in the NSG, MTCR, Wassenaar Arrangement and the Australia Group.
“India has never been a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies and we are determined to further strengthen our export control systems to keep them on a par with the highest international standards,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said, while addressing the second Nuclear Security Summit. He added India already adhered to the guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
“As a like-minded country with the ability and willingness to promote global non-proliferation objectives, we believe the next logical step is India’s membership in the four export control regimes,” Singh said.
Singh said an agreed multilateral framework involving all states possessing nuclear weapons was necessary to attain the goal of a nuclear weapons-free world.
