Austria and Ireland were, however, keen to introduce language on testing. Austria, in particular, cited domestic concerns.

India and US spent the whole day today slowly chipping away at the opposition with External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee issuing a statement underlining New Delhi’s commitment to global disarmament and strengthening the international non-proliferation regime.

The statement was circulated immediately at the start of the NSG meet this morning soon after it was clear that the Netherlands and Norway had moved away from the club of six holdouts.

The meeting broke up within 90 minutes as countries said they had to consult their respective capitals.

At that point, US Under Secretary of State for Arms Control John Rood emerged from the discussions and welcomed what he called India’s “very significant statement.” It “has generated a positive momentum for the discussions,” he said. “We both are committed to the objective of achieving a consensus and are optimistic that we can achieve this goal.”

The statement, as reported by The Indian Express today, was one of the key proposals on the table to assuage concerns of some holdout countries. Besides reaffirming the Indian position on disarmament, Mukherjee’s statement sought to address key concerns raised by sceptics in the NSG.

“India will not be a source of proliferation of sensitive technologies, including enrichment and reprocessing transfers. We stand for strengthening of the non-proliferation regime. We support international efforts to limit the spread of ENR equipment or technologies to states that do not have them. We will work together with the international community to advance our common objective of non-proliferation,” Mukherjee said.

... contd.