(Representative image)New Delhi: India became a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), three days after it failed to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) following China's opposition.
"India has joined the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) this morning. The MTCR Point of Contact in Paris has conveyed the decision regarding IndiaÂ’s accession to the regime through the Embassy of France in New Delhi as well as the Embassies of The Netherlands and Luxembourg," the Ministry of External Affairs said.
India became the 35th member of the MTCR, of which China awaits membership.
India first applied for the membership in 2008 and China in 2004.
"India would like to thank each of the 34 MTCR Partners for their support for the membership," the MEA added.
Earlier, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, "In the past also, we (India) have tried to get membership into restrictive regimes so to speak. We had applied membership into Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) and MTCR. At that time, many people said we will never get it. We had applied 10 years back. As I said, there are some processes which take longer (time). I will evaluate the NSG membership process in that catageory," he said.
The MTCR seeks to restrict the proliferation of missiles, complete rocket systems, unmanned air vehicles and related technology for those systems capable of carrying a 500kg payload for at least 300 km.
