The Hindu Business Line : ‘More work needs to be done to reach NSG consensus’

Discussions between those strongly pushing for the India waiver like Russia, Britain and France and those who have reservations like Ireland, New Zealand, Austria and Switzerland were underway in an attempt to thrash out differences.

Our Bureau

In a bid to allay apprehensions among members of the 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, the 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 Web site 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.”

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