India is all set to become a full member of the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR), three days after it failed to join NSG membership due to stiff opposition from a few other countries including China.

External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said that, "We applied for the membership of MTCR last year and all the procedural formalities have been completed. Tomorrow, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar will sign the document of accession into MTCR in the presence of Ambassadors of France, Netherlands and Luxembourg."

After the civil nuclear deal with the U.S., the country has been trying to get into export control regimes like MTCR,the Australia Group, NSG and the Wassenaar Arrangement which regulate the  nuclear, conventional, chemicals weapons, biological and technologies.

MTCR membership will allow India to buy high-end missile technology and also boost its joint ventures with Russia.

Earlier, India’s membership in MTCR was blocked by Italy in 2015, which seemed to link it to the standoff over the detention of the Italian marines. According to the sources, “Italy is no longer blocking the consensus,” with the return of the second marine, Salvatore Girone, to Rome on May 29.

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Nandini