New Delhi
6 December 2010
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France did one better than his US counterpart
Barack Obama and clinched deals worth $ 20 billion with India in defence, atomic energy
and civil aviation.
While Obama left New Delhi with trade deals worth $ 10 billion which held the promise of
creating 50,000 new jobs in the US, Sarkozy ensured that France's state-run nuclear
agency Areva became the first foreign entity after the end of India's nuclear isolation in
2008, to firm up pacts for construction of new nuclear reactors in India. (Russia was
already a player in the Indian nuclear industry.)
In separate deals, European group Airbus signed lease contracts for supply of four and
10 A-330 aircraft to Air India and Jet Airways respectively, even as French tyre maker
Michelin signed a protocol contract to invest in a factory in Tamil Nadu.
Sarkozy topped it up by bringing European defence electronics group Thales close to
finalising the negotiations to upgrade the Mirage-2000 fighter jets in the Indian Air Force
and to equip them with missiles.
While the French defence and aerospace conglomerate Safran was in advanced
negotiations to jointly develop a fighter jet with India, the European missiles and missile
systems manufacturer MBDA was optimistic of bagging a deal to jointly develop surface-
to-air missiles.
Further, he made the right noises, which would have pleased his hosts, by admonishing
Pakistan for not doing enough on terrorism, appreciating India's restraint post-26/11
attacks in Mumbai, and reiterating France's support for India's quest for a permanent
seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).
"It (UNSC seat) is not just an important matter for India but for the equilibrium of the
world," Sarkozy said in his opening remarks at a joint press conference with Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh. He thought it would be unfair for a country with a population
of over one billion to be kept out of the UNSC.
India and France signed seven agreements in all, including the general framework
agreement and the early works agreement between NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of
India Limited) and Areva for implementation of EPRs (European Pressurised Reactors) at
Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
The three other agreements pertaining to civil nuclear energy were on intellectual
property rights, protection of confidentiality of technical data and information, and
cooperation agreement between the Department of Atomic Energy and France's
"Commissariat A L'energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives" in the field of nuclear
science and technology.
Also signed were a pact on film co-production and a memorandum of understanding
between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and France's Centre National
D'etudes Spatiales for cooperation in earth system science and climate.
Prime Minister Singh said India will soon set up a cultural centre in Paris. France, he
was to add, will collaborate with India in establishing a centre of excellence in the Indian
Institute of Technology, Rajasthan.
"We discussed other regional and global issues of common concern, including the
situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and [Burma], terrorism and climate change," he
noted.
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