India on Friday became the 43rd member of the Australia Group (AG), an elite club of countries formed to stop the spread of materials, equipment and technologies that could contribute to the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons.
This is the third non-proliferation regime that India has been admitted to. Apart from AG, India is also a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA). India had joined MTCR in June last year and gained the membership of WA in December.
The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is the only non-proliferation regime of which India is not a part, mostly due to China’s objection to India’s bid. China maintains that Pakistan’s bid for NSG membership should be considered along with India, despite Islamabad’s poor non-proliferation record.
India’s entry into the group will help it make a case for its NSG membership. However, India can’t be a member of the NSG until all members, including China, approve its bid.
China is not a member of the MTCR, the WA and the AG.
“On 19 January 2018 India formally became the 43rd member of the Australia Group (AG), the cooperative and voluntary group of countries working to counter the spread of materials, equipment and technologies that could contribute to the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons (CBW) by states or terrorist groups,” the AG said in a release.
The AG is an informal forum of countries which, through the “harmonisation of export controls, seeks to ensure that exports do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons”.
It decided to admit India as the Group’s 43rd participant through a “consensus” decision, the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
Reacting to India’s entry to the group, MEA spokesperson Ravish Kumar said it would be “mutually beneficial and to help in non proliferation”.
Kumar said the membership in the AG would be further contribute to the international security and non-proliferation objectives.
“India would like to thank each of the AG participants for their support for India’s membership. We would also like to thank Ambassador Jane Hardy of Australia, former Chair of the Australia Group, for her role in facilitating India’s accession to the Group,” Kumar added.
Membership in the Australia Group comes months after India secured a berth in the Wassernaar Arrangement in December last year. New Delhi had bagged membership in the elite Missile Control Technology Regime (MTCR) in 2016.