New Delhi
9 July 2009
The United States may have done the heavy lifting to get India out from the
nuclear cold but the ground for it was laid almost a decade ago by France. Former French
President Jacques Chirac was not in favour of imposing United States-led sanctions
against India following the 1998 nuclear tests. Instead, he advocated a special status for
India in the nuclear arena without having to join the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
(NPT). Decades earlier, the French nuclear establishment sent a note acknowledging
India's technological prowess after the peaceful nuclear test in 1974. A few years later
France stepped in to fill the breach after the US stopped supplying nuclear fuel for the
Tarapur reactors.
"No country has shown greater understanding towards India than France has," a source
said, as Paris rolls out the red carpet for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit as chief
guest for the French National Day on July 14. The visit would be high on symbolism, but
New Delhi was hoping President Nicolas Sarkozy of France will look to build on the
legacy of Chirac by strengthening the strategic partnership between India and France in
a changing world.
For its part, the French Government has supported India's quest for a permanent seat in
the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) and has also proposed to expand the G-8
(Group of Eight) to include India and other emerging economies. According to French
Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont, a UNSC berth for India was a practical
imperative for a rule-based answer to global conflicts and for creating a political
environment to address threats to international peace and security.
"It is absolutely necessary for India and a couple of other countries to join the UNSC ...
we need India on board to deal with crises such as Sri Lanka and Iran," Bonnafont told a
gathering of diplomats and opinion makers at the Observer Research Foundation here
Thursday. "[We must] work patiently [and] with strong determination," he cautioned,
citing the difficulty in pushing the UNSC reform which requires the support of the five
permanent UNSC members and a two-third of the UN General Assembly. The envoy
described the Indo-French collaboration in civil nuclear energy and bilateral defence ties
as win-win situations.
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