Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann announced his country’s support to India’s membership in the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) after holding comprehensive talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Switzerland is a key member of the NSG and its support to India’s bid for membership of the elite grouping was seen as crucial in the backdrop of China harping on the need for consensus as India was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
In his remarks, Modi thanked the Swiss President for their “understanding and support” for India’s membership of the NSG.
The US and many other NSG member countries have supported India’s inclusion based on its non-proliferation track record.
The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one country’s vote against India will scuttle its bid.
India has been pushing for membership of the bloc for the last few years and had formally moved its application on May 12 that will be taken up for consideration in its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul.
The Prime Minister is likely to raise the issue with the leadership of Mexico, another key member of the NSG.
The NSG is a 48-nation body established to prevent the civilian nuclear trade from being used for military purposes. The body was formed in reaction to India’s clandestine endeavor to divert nuclear material exported by Canada and the U.S. to building nuclear warheads. The group is formed by the signatories to the non-proliferation treaty (NPT).
Though the NSG has been open to admitting new members, it has been stringent in opening its doors only to those countries that are part of the NPT or Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).
India has signed neither the NPT nor is it a member of CTBT, something that China was quick to note.
In his visit to India in 2015, Obama showed his eagerness to help India get into the club. In 2010, when he made his maiden visit to India he was equally supportive of the idea, and indeed backed the addition of India to the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), the Australian Group, and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
This represents a long-term U.S. effort to incorporate India into the global nuclear order. The watershed event in this process occurred in 2008, when the NSG issued an India-specific waiver allowing it to engage in nuclear trade.
India has since signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with the U.S., U.K., France, Canada, Argentina, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia, and South Korea.
The U.S., U.K., France and Russia are in favor of including India in the NSG – only China opposes the idea.
Prime Minister Modi is on official visit to Switzerland. During the talks, Modi and Schneider-Ammann agreed to expand cooperation in tackling the problem of Indians stashing black money in Swiss banks besides resolving to step up ties in areas of trade, investment and vocational training.
He also said both the sides agreed to support each other for their respective bids for the non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council.
Indian tax authorities are probing cases of tax evasion and blackmoney stashed abroad. The probe had gained momentum after a leaked list of hundreds of Indian clients of HSBC’s Geneva branch found its way to the Indian tax authorities.
Last month, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said India had signed an agreement with Switzerland and received details of those people having accounts in HSBC.