Wassenaar Arrangement

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 2

India to assume chairmanship of Wassenaar arrangement on 1 Jan 2023. India has also assumed the presidency of the UNSC.

About Wassenaar Arrangement

• The Wassenaar Arrangement was founded in 1996, and is clubbed with mechanisms such as the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) and the Australia Group
• Its stated aim is “to contribute to regional and international security and stability, by promoting transparency and greater responsibility in transfers of conventional arms and dual-use goods and technologies, thus preventing destabilising accumulations.”

Procedure

• Wassenaar members lack veto authority over other member’s proposed exports.
• Its predecessor was the Cold War-era Coordinating Committee for Multilateral Export Controls (COCOM), which was created to restrict exports to the former Soviet Union and Eastern bloc.
• The plenary comprising all 42 countries of the group, is the primary decision-making body and is chaired on a rotation basis annually.
• The decisions of the plenary are taken by consensus.

Significance

• India will get access to high technology, which will help address the demands of Indian space and defence sectors
• It help India to raise its stature in the field of non-proliferation, even though it is not a signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, or NPT
• It will also boost New Delhi’s chances of joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG)
• It will facilitate high technology tie-ups with Indian industry and ease access to high-tech items for our defence and space programmes
• While membership of the Arrangement would not automatically entail any preferential treatment from other WA members, it would create the grounds for realignment of India in the export control policy framework of other WA members, including eligibility for certain licensing exceptions

The Wassenaar Arrangement will embed India deeper in the global non-proliferation architecture and enable access to critical technologies in the defence and space sectors.

Question: What is nuclear doctrine of India? Discuss its advantages and disadvantages.