Another push in non proliferation, India gets entry into Australia group

NEW DELHI: In a huge boost to its stand in non proliferation, India on Friday joined the Australia Group, an informal group of countries to help member countries identify the exports and ensure they do not contribute to the development of chemical or biological weapons.

"On 19 January 2018 India formally became the 43rd member of the Australia Group (AG), the 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 (CBW) by states or terrorist groups," the AG said in a release.

Reacting to India's entry to the group, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Ravish Kumar said it would be "mutually beneficial and to help in non proliferation".

He said the AG membership will help in establishing India's credentials further.

India's entry to the Australia Group comes after it became a member of two export control regimes - Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) in 2016 and the Wassenaar Arrangement (WA) in 2017.

The Wassenaar Arrangement on Export Controls for Conventional Arms and Dual-Use Goods and Technologies is a multilateral export control regime.