India in touch with NSG over guidelines on ENR transfer

India is in touch with Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) in the wake of the elite nuclear club's recent decision to tighten export controls of enrichment and reprocessing technologies and is hopeful it will not have any adverse impact on the country-specific agreement.

Government sources while expressing the hope that the new guidelines will not adversely impact the India-specific agreement with NSG said it will continue to flag its excellent track record in the nuclear field and the steps it has taken to categorise strategic and military use.

"We are going through the small print (NSG document). Obviously we are in touch with the group," the sources said today.

At a two-day meeting in the Netherlands last week, the 46-nation grouping "agreed to strengthen its guidelines on the transfer of sensitive enrichment and reprocessing technologies" and also considered all aspects of the implementation of the 2008 Statement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation with India.

The group also discussed the "NSG relationship with India", at a time when the grouping is considering the country's entry as a full member.

Asked on what they thought could be the reasons behind such a decision, the sources here said, "it is because there are certain countries which feel that there is a need to tighten the framework."