INDIA DECLINES INVITATION TO EXPORT CONTROL

C O N F I D E N T I A L NEW DELHI 007194 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2015 TAGS: PARM PREL KSTC MASS ETTC IN SUBJECT: INDIA DECLINES INVITATION TO EXPORT CONTROL CONFERENCE REF: STATE 132303 Classified By: A/DCM Geoff Pyatt for Reasons 1.4 (B, D) ¶1. (U) Indian export control officials will not attend the international export control conference in Stockholm, Sweden, Sept. 20-22, because of other commitments at that time, MEA Under Secretary for Disarmament and International Security Nutan Kapoor told PolMilOff on Sept. 14. ¶2. (C) Comment: The GOI generally does not attend international export control events, in part because the Ministry of External Affairs wants to maintain a high level of control over India's export control policy, but does not have sufficient staff for both policy development and implementation. It does, however, regularly engage with the US on EXBS programs as part of an agreed schedule of annual events. In the future, it might be helpful for similar US-sponsored or co-sponsored events to be included for GOI consideration as part of the larger EXBS program. ¶3. (U) Visit New Delhi's Classified Website: (http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/sa/newdelhi/) PYATT