New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs today asserted that New Delhi has met the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) criteria and India will definitely become a member of Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), indicating it will continue the talks with China.
Vikas Swarup, the official spokesperson of MEA, told the reporters that the hurdles being faced by India were not due to any diplomatic failure.
“There are some processes that take a long time. I would evaluate the NSG membership process in that category. Yes, we did not get the desired result from Seoul. Probably it is going to take slightly longer,” Swarup said.
"We will continue to work actively on this. Today Indian diplomacy does not fear failure. We will redouble our efforts and double the momentum to achieve the result,” he added.
Talking about countries other than China opposing India's entry into the elite club, Swarup said, “As I mentioned earlier, there was only one country which persistently raised procedural hurdles, as a result of which no decision could be arrived at in Seoul and we stick to that stand. As far as other countries are concerned, there are some who raised procedure related issues, but not a single country apart from that one country opposed India’s NSG membership.”
The diplomat highlighted that India has met the criteria for becoming a NSG member. “India is an important member of the nuclear comer club. We are building 38 reactors within the country. Every year more than 150 plus export licenses on nuclear related items are issues by India. This itself tells the need of India to be inside the NSG. Our credentials on non proliferation speak for itself,” he said.
In the face of strong opposition from China and a few other countries, India's application for membership did not go through at the NSG plenary which concluded in Seoul on Friday.
However, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is likely to meet again before the end of the year in order to discuss the procedure to allow special entry to non-NPT signatories, including India, into the 48-nation grouping.
