US congratulates India for joining Australia Group

NEW DELHI: Emphasizing the Indian government's "excellent" non-proliferation credentials, the US today congratulated India on becoming the newest member of the Australian Group.

Calling India a valued non-proliferation partner, the US Department of State said that Washington looks forward to working with India.
"India is a valued non-proliferation partner, we look forward to continuing our work with Indian in the Australia Group in furtherance of our shared non-proliferation goals," the DoS said in a statement.
Last week, India became a member of the 'Australia Group' (AG), helping it to bolster its credentials in the field of non-proliferation and also help it acquire critical technologies.
Following its entry into the AG, India became a member of the three of the four non-proliferation regimes, Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Wassenaar Agreement (WA) and the Australia Group (AG).
The only one remaining is the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India has managed entry into all three groups despite not being a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), and despite China's attempts to stonewall its bid to enter the NSG.
AG is a cooperative and voluntary group of countries working to counter the spread of materials, equipment and technologies that could contribute to the development or acquisition of chemical and biological weapons by states or terrorist groups. In December, India gained entry into WA. In June last year, India joined the MTCR, another key export control regime, as a full member.
Significantly, China, which stonewalled India's entry into the 48-nation NSG is not a member of the WA or the MTCR, both of which play a significant role in promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies.
Since its civil nuclear deal with the US, India has been trying to get into export control regimes such as the NSG, the MTCR, the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement that regulate the conventional, nuclear, biological and chemicals weapons and technologies.