Key export control regime decides to make India its new member

NEWDELHI: Export control regime Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) has decided to make India its new member — a move that could bolster the country’s non-proliferation credentials as well as access to high-technology in the fields of space and defence.

The decision was taken at the two-day plenary meeting of the grouping in Vienna on Thursday, even as India continues to step up its efforts to get entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, an elite club of countries that deals with nuclear technology and fissile materials.

“Wassenaar Arrangement participating states reviewed the progress of a number of current membership applications and agreed at the plenary meeting to admit India which will become the Arrangement’s 42nd participating state as soon as the necessary procedural arrangements for joining the WA are completed,” the grouping said in a statement.

Welcoming the move, the external affairs ministry said the membership was expected to “facilitate high technology tieups with Indian industry and ease access to high-tech items for our defence and space programmes”. Members of the group are not bound by any treaty, but they exchange information on their transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use goods to countries that are not part of the arrangement.

French Ambassador to India Alexandre Ziegler said entry into WA was a recognition of India’s growing role in today’s world.