Trying to get support of other nations to include India in NSG-fold: Japan

 “I hope that India will be the part of the NSG. Japan is working with India to make sure that it becomes a member of the NSG. We are talking to Indian government on how India can get more support from other countries,” Kenji Hiramatsu, Japan's envoy to India, said.

He said PM Narendra Modi is expected to pay a “reciprocal” visit to Japan this year, adding that no date was finalised yet. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had visited India in December last year.

On finalising the nitty-gritty relating to the broad agreement for cooperation in civil nuclear energy between India and Japan, inked in December last year, the envoy said both the countries were working on it and that there were no “roadblocks” or any “major pending issues”. 

India has planned a major expansion of its nuclear energy sector and membership of the NSG, comprising 48 nations, will help it trade in and export nuclear technology.Switzerland, a key member of the NSG, had on Monday said it would support India’s application after Modi held talks with Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann.

India's application is expected to be taken up for discussion by the NSG at its plenary meetings on June 9 in Vienna and June 24 in Seoul. China has been opposing India's bid arguing that it was not a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

The NSG works under the principle of unanimity and even one country's vote against India will scuttle its bid. On the Indo-Japan nuclear pact, the Japanese envoy said: “I don't see any road block... It is a technical review. There is no major pending issues.”