India’s NSG bid: Modi likely to meet Chinese Prez in Tashkent

Summit starting in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on June 23.

On India’s SCO membership, Mehta said, “The process of India’s accession to the SCO will start with a signature on the base document which is called the Memorandum of Obligations”.

The SCO is a six-nation group comprising China, Russia and Central Asian countries focused on regional energy and security issues.

On the question of India’s full-time membership to SCO, Mehta said: “There is a schedule laid down for us to sign up to the other documents that are required that India needs to accede to and this is a process for which there is a schedule”.

Indian officials, however, sounded cautious on Wednesday, on the eve of the NSG plenary, although they insisted that Delhi wants membership – and not a working group or panel to look into India’s case.

“With regard to India’s entry into NSG, I would like correct that the word China blocking India’s membership is not proper”, she said.

On the other hand, China today continued to make ambivalent statements on India’s bid for NSG membership amid clear indications that it was unrelenting in its opposition. “It is really a coincidence that the NSG meeting is happening on the same days as the SCO summit”, Mehta said.

The decision on India’s admission to the six-member bloc was taken previous year at Ufa, Russia.

The event will begin with a cultural evening and a state dinner tomorrow.

Chinese president Xi Jinping and Russian president Vladimir Putin will attend the two-day 16th annual summit of bloc to be held in the Uzbek capital.

Sources said, membership in NSG is a delicate and complex process and it would not be wise to speculate at this point.

India is seeking membership of NSG to enable it to trade in and export nuclear technology. Washington is understood to have conveyed that India’s case is “very compelling”, and it does not need to give any “additional assurances” to the NSG – beyond the commitment given by then External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee in 2008 when the country-specific exemption was granted.

India wants to become a member of the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) to get better access to low-priced, clean nuclear energy – important for its economic growth.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “China hopes to discuss further this issue and will play a constructive role in the discussions”, and added, “As for the entry of non-NPT countries, the group has never put that on its meeting agenda”.