Modi to attend Nuclear Security Summit, seeking NSG membership

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Diya TV) — India Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the fourth bi-annual Nuclear Security Summit later this month hosted by President Barack Obama, a top priority will be seeking membership into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, a multinational body concerned with reducing nuclear proliferation.

Since its inception in 2010, Mr. Obama and other attendees of the summit have aimed their focus at the continued prevention of terrorists obtaining a nuclear arsenal. The inaugural summit took place in April 2010, and was held in Washington D.C.; 2012’s in South Korea; and 2014’s in The Hague.

The U.S. has expressed constant concern over the years surrounding the expansion of small nuclear weapon programs in South Asia, though with this being Obama’s final year in office, he and his officials are anticipated to push for stricter, more concrete results during the summit. For India, the odds of NSG membership are in the nation’s favor, according to independent international security expert Theresa Hitchens: “There has been a lot of debate about letting India into the NSG. Incidentally, China has signalled that it may seek to get Pakistan in, as a quid pro quo for not blocking India’s membership.”

Rafael Grossi, chairperson for the NSG and Argentinian ambassador to Vienna, paid a recent visit to New Delhi to meet foreign minister Sushma Swaraj as part of a diplomatic outreach which seeks to build a consensus for India’s admission into the group during their annual meeting next June. It wasn’t New Delhi’s first attempt, the nation first sought membership into the 48-nation club back in 2010. Additionally, New Delhi sought membership into the MTCR (Missile Technology Control Regime) in 2015, but India saw its application blocked by the Italians.