India has joined the exclusive club of countries controlling exports in missile technology, just a day after its exclusion from the Nuclear Supplies Group or NSG, which governs international nuclear fuel and technology. India's Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar signed the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) aimed at preventing the unchecked proliferation of missiles and their delivery systems.

The Foreign Ministry, in a statement issued soon after the signing of the accession document in the presence of the ambassadors of France, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, thanked the other 34 members of the MTCR group for supporting its inclusion.

“India has joined the MTCR this morning, India’s entry into the regime as its thirty-fifth member would be mutually beneficial in the furtherance of international non-proliferation objectives,” External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

“India would like to thank each of the thirty-four MTCR Partners for their support for India’s membership. We would also like to thank Ambassador Pieter de Klerk of The Netherlands and Mr Robert Steinmetz of Luxembourg, co-Chairs of the MTCR,” the statement said.

Admission to the MTCR will open the way for India to buy high-end missile technology, making more realistic its aspiration to buy surveillance drones such as the US Predator, made by privately held General Atomics.

After the civil nuclear deal with the US, India has been trying to get into export control regimes like NSG, MTCR, the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement that regulates the conventional, nuclear, biological and chemicals weapons and technologies.

The aim of the MTCR is to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500 kilogram payload for at least 300 kilometres, as well as systems intended for the delivery of weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

By Premji