The Hindu Business Line : ‘India committed to non-proliferation, disarmament’

New Delhi, Sept. 5 In a bid to allay apprehensions among members of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), India on Friday reiterated its commitment to strengthening of the non-proliferation regime and underlined its stated policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons.

With the NSG meeting for a waiver to India underway in Vienna, External Affairs Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, issued a statement saying that New Delhi will work with the international community to advance the “common objective” of non-proliferation. The statement, posted on the Ministry’s website late afternoon, assured the international community that India will not be a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies, including enrichment and reprocessing transfers.

Noting that India remained committed to a voluntary, unilateral moratorium on nuclear testing, the statement said: “We do not subscribe to any arms race, including nuclear arms race. We have always tempered the exercise of our strategic autonomy with a sense of global responsibility. We affirm our policy of no-first-use of nuclear weapons.”

“We stand for the strengthening of the non-proliferation regime...,” Mr Mukherjee said in the statement, which came in the backdrop of some members of the 45-nation NSG expressing concern over giving India a waiver for conducting nuclear trade.

Assuring the international community about working for a non-proliferation regime, the Minister said New Delhi was “interested in participating as a supplier nation, particularly for Thorium-based fuel and in establishment of international fuel banks, which also benefit India.”

Recalling former Prime Minister Mr Rajiv Gandhi’s vision for a world free of nuclear weapons presented to the UN in 1988, Mr Mukherjee said: “India has a long standing and steadfast commitment to universal, non-discriminatory and total elimination of nuclear weapons.”

Emphasising that the civil nuclear initiative will strengthen the international non-proliferation regime, he said opening of full civil nuclear co-operation will be good for India and for the world. “It will have a profound positive impact on global energy security and international efforts to combat climate change,” he said.

“We stand for the strengthening of the non-proliferation regime...,” the minister said, adding that India is approaching the NSG for a dialogue in a “spirit of cooperation” that allows for an ongoing frank exchange of views on subjects of mutual interest and concern. “Such a dialogue will strengthen our relationship in the years to come,” he said.

He noted that India places a great value on the role played by the IAEA safeguards system and it looks forward to working with the atomic agency in implementing the India-specific safeguards agreement concluded with it. “In keeping with our commitment to sign and adhere to an Additional Protocol with respect to India’s civil nuclear facilities, we are working closely with the IAEA to ensure early conclusion of an Additional Protocol to the Safeguards Agreement,” he added.

Mr Mukherjee pointed out that India has submitted a Working Paper on Nuclear Disarmament to the UN General Assembly, which contained initiatives on nuclear disarmament. “These include the reaffirmation of the unequivocal commitment of all nuclear weapon States to the goal of complete elimination of nuclear weapons; negotiation of a Convention on the complete prohibition of the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons.” It includes “negotiation of a Nuclear Weapons Convention prohibiting the development, production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons and on their destruction, leading to the global, non-discriminatory and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons within a specified timeframe.”

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