New Delhi: India's application for a membership into the elite Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), which controls the global trade in nuclear fuel and technology, will come up for hearing at a special session of the 48-member grouping in Seoul tonight, media reports said citing diplomatic sources.
According to ANI news agency, the membership issue was already raised during the plenary session of the NSG held earlier today in the South Korean capital.
The 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear agreement got the green-light from American lawmakers after India managed to pull a diplomatic coup by winning a special waiver from the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
The nuclear agreement and the NSG waiver followed after a multi-pronged diplomacy by India and the Americans at a special NSG plenary in Vienna.
However, Beijing has said that application of countries that are signatories of NPT (Non-Proliferation Treaty) will only be discussed at the plenary. Application of non-NPT countries is not on the meeting agenda.
"Deliberation on the entry of specific countries is on the agenda of the Seoul Plenary Meeting. However, it is worth noting that the meeting is only to deliberate on the entry application of countries that are state parties to the NPT.
“As for the entry of non-NPT countries, the group has never put that on its meeting agenda," dailyo.in quoted a statement issued of the Chinese foreign ministry as saying.
