India Now A Member Of Exclusive Missile Technology Group MTCR

India on Monday joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), an exclusive group of countries that control exports in missile technology. This is India’s first entry into a multilateral export control regime.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the instrument of accession to MTCR in the presence of France’s Ambassador-designate Alexandre Ziegler, Netherlands’ Ambassador Alphonsus Stoelinga and Luxembourg’s Chargé d’Affaires Laure Huberty.

In a statement, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs thanked all the member countries, Ambassador Piet de Klerk of Netherlands and Robert Steinmetz of Luxembourg and co-chairs of the MTCR, for facilitating India’s accession to the regime.

“India’s entry into the regime as its thirty-fifth member would be mutually beneficial in the furtherance of international non-proliferation objectives,” the statement read.

India’s acceptance into the MTCR reportedly comes days after it was excluded from the 48-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) after China and other countries opposed India’s membership.

Since its 2008 civil nuclear deal with the U.S., India has attempted to join export control regimes like the NSG, the MTCR, the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement that regulate conventional, nuclear, biological and chemicals weapons and technologies.

The new MTCR membership will permit India to buy high-end missile technology and enhance its joint ventures with Russia. Reports said the now 35-member MTCR restricts the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) payload for at least 300 kilometers (185 miles), as well as systems intended for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).