Category: Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)

Wassenaar Arrangement

Why in News? 

  • Recently, on 26th annual plenary of the Wassenaar Arrangement in Vienna, Ireland handed over the chairmanship to India and India will officially assume the chairmanship from 1st January, 2023.

What is Wassenaar Arrangement?

  • The Wassenaar Arrangement is a voluntary export control regime. The Arrangement, formally established in July 1996, has 42 members who exchange information on transfers of conventional weapons and dual-use goods and technologies.
  • Dual-use refers to the ability of a good or technology to be used for multiple purposes – usually peaceful and military.
  • Wassenaar Arrangement’s Secretariat is in Vienna, Austria.
  • It has 42 member states comprising mostly NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) and EU states.
  • Participating States are required to report their arms transfers and transfers/denials of certain dual-use goods and technologies to destinations outside the Arrangement on a six-monthly basis.
  • India became a member of the Arrangement in 2017.

Objectives of Wassenaar Arrangement:

  • The group works by regularly exchanging information in respect of technology, both conventional and nuclear-capable, that is sold to, or denied to countries outside the grouping.
  • This is done through maintenance and updating of detailed lists of chemicals, technologies, processes and products that are considered militarily significant.
  • It aims at controlling the movement of technology, material or components to countries or entities which undermine international security and stability.

Wassenaar Arrangement Plenary: 

  • It is the decision-making body of the Arrangement.
  • It is composed of representatives of all Participating States and normally meets once a year, usually in December.
  • The position of Plenary Chair is subject to annual rotation among Participating States.
  • In 2018 the Plenary Chair was held by the United Kingdom, and in 2019 the Chair is held by Greece.
  • All Plenary decisions are taken by consensus.

Why is the Chairmanship Significant for India?

Can Bolster Anti-Terrorism Efforts:

  • The timing of India’s WA chairmanship coincides with a recent increase in country’s anti-terrorism position in international bodies.
  • India is also actively engaging global stakeholders in curbing terrorist financing.
  • Indian home minister is presently the chair of the No Money for Terrorism (NMFT) ministerial initiative.

Prevent Arms Diversion to Terrorists:

  • As a chair of the plenary, India would be in a position to steer discussions of the group to further strengthen the export controls to prevent arms diversion to terrorists or to sovereign nations supporting terrorism.

Strong Anti-Proliferation Framework:

  • The worsening economic crisis in India’s western neighbour coupled with rapid radicalization of historically moderate sects in communities in the country poses a peculiar set of challenges to India.
  • Strengthening the licensing and enforcement practices under the WA and adoption of new export controls in areas like flight technology, interception technology and digital investigation tools will pave the way for the creation of a strong anti-proliferation framework for South Asia.

Democratization of space and Defense Technologies:

  • India can play a significant role in democratising access to technologies and processes that can serve as crucial building blocks for the newly emerging defence and space manufacturing sectors in India.
  • India is slowly emerging as a low-cost producer of several items in the WA’s control lists.

What are other Export Control Regimes?

  • The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), for the control of nuclear related technology.
  • The Australia Group (AG) for control of chemical and biological technology that could be weaponized.
  • The Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) for the control of rockets and other aerial vehicles capable of delivering weapons of mass destruction.

Way Forward:

  • Membership to these not only allows greater technology and material access but enhances the credibility of a nation as a responsible member of the world order.
  • India is poised to become a significant player in the world and thus requires a voice to further its claim as a rising power.

50 YEARS OF NPT

Why in News?

  • Recently, the foreign ministers of the five permanent members (P5) of the UN Security Council issued a joint statement on the successful implementation of NPT which was implemented 50 years ago on March 5 1970.

About NPT:

  • The NPT is an international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to foster the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, and to further the goal of disarmament.
  • It represents the only binding commitment in a multilateral treaty to the goal of disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States.
  • Nuclear-weapon states parties under the NPT are defined as those that manufactured and exploded a nuclear weapon or other nuclear explosive device before January 1, 1967.
  • India did not sign it as the treaty was discriminatory. India argued that treaties like NPT were selectively applicable to only non-nuclear powers and legitimized the monopoly of nuclear power by a few.
  • Consequently India conducted nuclear explosion test in May 1974, all along maintaining that it was committed to peaceful use of atomic energy.
  • In 1998, India again conducted a nuclear explosion tests, and acquired the capacity to use nuclear energy for military purposes.
  • To alleviate the fears of a world community, India formulated a comprehensive nuclear doctrine. The major tenets of this doctrine are:
    • Maintenance of a credible minimum nuclear deterrence.
    • Professes no first use policy.
    • Commitment to global veritable and non-discriminatory nuclear disarmament leading to a nuclear weapons free world.
  • India has abided by both NPT and Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) even though it is a non-signatory. This along with its commitments on nuclear non-proliferation under NSG waiver in 2008 provides India with a strong basis for membership in NSG.
    • The Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) is the treaty banning all nuclear explosions – everywhere, by everyone.
    • The Treaty was negotiated at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It opened for signature on 24 September 1996.

What is Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)?

  • NSG is a group of nuclear supplier countries that seeks to contribute to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of guidelines for nuclear exports and nuclear-related exports.
  • The NSG was set up as a response to India’s nuclear tests conducted in 1974.
  • The aim of the NSG is to ensure that nuclear trade for peaceful purposes does not contribute to the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
  • The grouping has 48 participating governments and the European Commission acts as an Observer.
  • Since 2008, India has sought membership in the NSG. The same year, the NSG granted India a “clean waiver” from its existing rules, which forbids nuclear trade with a country which has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
  • The waiver paved the way for India to engage in nuclear trade and led to the Indo-US Civil Nuclear Deal. India has since signed civilian nuclear cooperation agreements with the U.S., U.K., France, Canada, Argentina, Australia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Namibia, and South Korea.
  • The drive for India’s membership got a decisive boost when U.S declared support for India joining the quartet of multilateral export control regimes.
  • S proposed case for a country-specific rather than a criteria-based approach rested on the argument that India’s nuclear record and commitment to non-proliferation norms qualified it as a “like minded country” to join the NSG.
  • The four multilateral export control regimes are Wassenaar Arrangement (WA), Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), Australia Group (AG) and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). India is not a member of NSG only.

Impediments to India’s NSG Bid:

  • NSG operates by consensus and all its current members are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
  • China has relied on an obstructionist argument claiming that a “compulsory” requirement for NSG membership is that they must be signatories to the NPT.
  • China equates India with Pakistan — which has an established history of nuclear proliferation, further complicating the scenario.

Significance of NSG Membership for India:

  • Membership of NSG will increase India’s access to state-of-the-art nuclear technology from members of the Group.
  • As per India’s commitment under the Paris climate agreement, it has to ensure that 40% of its energy is sourced from renewable and clean sources by 2030. In order to achieve this target, India needs to scale up nuclear power production. This can only happen if India gains access to NSG.
  • Some nations are restricted by regional treaties (For eg., Pelindaba Treaty) to provide access to nuclear fuel and technology to India. If India joins the NSG, such restrictions are expected to be done away with.
    • Pelindaba Treaty (African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty) establishes a Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone in Africa.
    • The treaty was signed in 1996 and came into effect in July 2009.
    • It aims at preventing nuclear proliferation and preventing strategic minerals of Africa from being exported freely.
    • This treaty prohibits member parties to come into bilateral agreement with countries who are non-signatories of NPT.
    • In 2016, Namibia criticized the Treaty of Pelindaba for disallowing Namibia to trade uranium to India because India is not a member of the NPT.

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