India’s bid to join Nuclear Supplier Group a point of pride

Modi on Monday visited Switzerland, another key member of the NSG, and the European country – known to have strong proliferation concerns – had announced its support to India’s candidature at the bloc that looks after critical issues relating to nuclear sector and its members are allowed to trade in and export nuclear technology.

With the U.S. backing India’s bid to enter the atomic trade group, most member nations supported it, but China has opposed the move, citing the fact that India has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and arguing that NSG should not relax criteria for new applicants.

“Underscoring that both India and the United States share the vision of peace and prosperity of the world, the Prime Minister said “globally, terrorism remains the biggest threat” and it must be fought at many levels” as the traditional tools of military, intelligence or diplomacy alone would not be able to win defeat it.

This week’s reported nuclear breakthroughs were seen as a major point of progress for Modi, who has placed new urgency on India’s nuclear ambitions with the aim of vastly expanding atomic power to account for about half of the country’s total electricity supply by 2050. But progress in deals to build new nuclear plants since then has stalled.

In another crucial backing for India’s bid to be a part of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Mexico supported “positively” and “constructively” its membership of the 48-nation bloc on June 9 as the two countries agreed to develop a roadmap to upgrade bilateral ties to a strategic partnership.

“Mexico recognises India’s bid to be part of the NSG. A crescendo is building up; now is the time to clinch it”, said Sheel Kant Sharma, a former Indian ambassador to Vienna, Austria.

This week, Obama hailed India’s membership in the Missile Technology Control Regime, a group that restricts the export of missiles and their delivery systems. Opponents argue that granting it membership would further undermine efforts to prevent proliferation. They demanded anonymity in exchange for speaking to The Associated Press because they were not authorized to talk about the substance of the closed session.

Pena Nieto’s support is a boost for Modi, but he must still win China’s support to seal India’s membership of the non-proliferation body at the group’s annual meeting in South Korea this month. However, China stuck to its position. China, however, showed no sign of backing down from its opposition to India joining unless Pakistan becomes a member.