India becomes full member of Missile Technology Control Regime

In its first entry into any multilateral export control regime, India has joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) as a full member, days after it failed to get NSG membership due to stiff opposition from China and a few other countries."We applied for the membership of MTCR last year

and all the procedural formalities have been completed" External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said.Significantly, China, which stonewalled India's entry into the 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at the just- concluded Seoul plenary, is not a member of 34-nation MTCR.

Since its 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 regulate the conventional, nuclear, biological and chemicals weapons and technologies.