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India, France sign 9 agreements including nuclear declaration

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Feb 20, IRNA
India-France-Agreements
India and France on Monday signed nine agreements, including a declaration on nuclear energy and a pact on defence cooperation, after the conclusion of talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting French President Jacques Chirac.

The Declaration on Development of Nuclear Energy for Peaceful Purposes was signed by Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar and French Foreign Minister Phillipe Douste Blazy in the presence of Singh and Chirac.

The two countries noted that the declaration was an important step forward in the realization of their objective of concluding a bilateral civil and nuclear cooperation agreement and of bringing forward the longstanding Indo-France cooperation in the sector.

The two countries "agreed to continue to work together towards fulfillment of that objective," a joint statement issued after the talks said.

Both sides recalled their joint statement of September 12, 2005 in which they agreed to work towards conclusion of a bilateral civilian nuclear cooperation agreement.

The agreement on defence cooperation was signed by Indian Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his French counterpart Michele Alliot-Marie.

The joint statement described the defence agreement as an important statement of the strategic partnership between the two nations building upon and expanding cooperation in the defence and military fields.

Indo-French bilateral trade rose by around 80 percent between 1995 and 2004, with Indian exports to France growing by about 97 percent over the same period.

Two-way trade between the two countries touched an all-time high of 3.64 billion euros during September 2004 to August 2005.

An analysis of the foreign collaborations and foreign direct investment (FDI) approved by the French government after the announcement of its new industrial policy in August 1991 shows that foreign collaboration (FC) approvals and investment from France has risen substantially.

From August 1991 to March 2005, the government approved 26,631 foreign collaboration (technical and financial) proposals with a corresponding foreign direct investment of USD 67.65 billion.

Out of that figure, the total number of approvals with France had been of the order of 885 (3.32 percent of total approvals) with an equity participation of USD 1.74 billion (2.57 percent of total investment).

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