France, India to fire up military cooperation, nuclear energy ties

France, India to fire up military cooperation, nuclear energy ties

India and France said Friday they would push their military ties beyond weapons sales and open up nuclear power cooperation as soon as New Delhi is able to enter the global atomic energy market.

India’s prime minister Manmohan Singh said he had agreed with visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy to go beyond a “buyer-seller relationship” with France viewed merely as one of several international arms suppliers.

Sarkozy also said negotiations had been finalised on a planned bilateral accord on nuclear power plants, a key area of French expertise and seen as crucial to India’s effort to fuel an economy currently expanding at a rate of nine percent.

“We have agreed to go beyond a buyer-seller relationship. We will increasingly focus on joint research and development projects, transfer of technology and greater military exchanges,” Singh told reporters.

“I think it is very important that India and France should cooperate, share information and intelligence gathering for defence of the values which are dear to both our countries,” he said in a joint news conference.

Defence ties have been high on the agenda, with France lobbying hard in a country ranked as the biggest weapons buyer among emerging nations and expected to spend an estimated 30 billion dollars over the next five years.

French-Indian defence ties took a blow last month when New Delhi cancelled a Eurocopter bid for a 600-million-dollar (410-million-euro) helicopter contract due to alleged irregularities.

The alleged payment of bribes in a submarine deal is also being probed. France was the second largest arms supplier to India after Russia but has now been overtaken by Israel. The United States is also pushing for a place in the Indian market.

However, French firms are expected to be invited to upgrade India’s fleet of Mirage fighters in a contract worth up to 1.5 billion euros — and they are set to compete in a tender for 126 war planes.

Sarkozy also announced progress on a nuclear cooperation agreement that has been in the works for years to allow France to supply equipment and fuel to India once it has cleared hurdles with the UN’s nuclear watchdog.

India is currently banned from buying fuel for atomic reactors and related equipment because of nuclear weapons tests in 1974 and 1988.

The French deal hinges on the outcome of negotiations between India and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and with the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the global nuclear trade.

“If we do not let India accede to civilian nuclear energy it will have to go to more polluting means,” Sarkozy said, adding he expected to see an international consensus emerge within “weeks”.

Singh said the process would “take time” — alluding to domestic pressure from the government’s Communist allies who say such a pact with the IAEA, which would involve some international inspections, compromises India’s strategic programme.

Sarkozy jetted into New Delhi without girlfriend Carla Bruni, although an Indian foreign ministry source said the ex-supermodel and pop singer may join him on Saturday for a private visit to the Taj Mahal.

The president has lined up a visit to India’s famed 17th century monument to love on Saturday, after attending India’s annual Republic Day parade.

New Delhi, Friday, AFP