Addressing the last of the skeptics among of the 45-member Nuclear suppliers Group (NSG), that are taking a final view on allowing India to be a nuclear trading nation, even without being a signatory to the mandatory non-proliferation treaty (NPT), external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee today reiterated New Delhi’s commitment to "non-proliferation of nuclear weapons."
In a statement released here just before the NSG members were to sit for the last and perhaps the concluding round of discussion on the proposal at Vienna, Mukhejee said that the Indo-US civil nuclear deal would only help strengthen the non-proliferation regime.
"India believes that the opening of full civil nuclear cooperation will be good for India and for the world. It will have a profound positive impact on global energy security and international efforts to combat climate change," he said.
Addressing the fears of some NSG countries that giving exemption to India would result in proliferation of the nuclear arsenal, Mukherjee said, "We remain committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing and no-first use commitment."
He said that while India had an "impeccable non-proliferation record," and it also had in place an effective and comprehensive system of national export controls, which had been constantly updated to meet the highest international stands.
In this regard, he said, India had enacted the Weapons of Mass Destruction and their Delivery Systems Act in 2005 and also taken steps to secure nuclear materials and technology through comprehensive export control legislation and through harmonization and committing to adhere to Missile Technology Control Regime and Nuclear Suppliers Group guidelines.
