Opinion - Editorials   

Tap the unrealised potential

Not distracted by l'affaire Mittal and with the Clemenceau controversy out of the way, the India visit by President Jacques Chirac has sent out a strong signal of the French desire to widen the scope and give depth to its relations with India. Traditionally, France has concentrated on strengthening ties in regions where it was a colonial power. Only in the late-1990s did the Quai d'Orsay wake up to the enormous possibilities of developing relations with emerging economic powerhouses such as China and India. That realisation acquired a new dimension in the wake of the United States-led invasion of Iraq. A vociferous opponent of the invasion and of American dominance of the international stage, political France has been in the forefront of the campaign to build a multipolar world order. This has given its engagement with India a new urgency. During the French presidency of the G-8 in 2003, India was among a dozen developing countries invited to participate in an "enlarged dialogue" on the sidelines of the Evian summit. President Chirac is also an unequivocal supporter of India's candidature for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council. During the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Paris in September 2005, France formally acknowledged the "need for full international civilian nuclear co-operation" with India and promised to work with other Nuclear Suppliers' Group members towards this objective, and the two countries declared they would work towards a nuclear co-operation agreement.

That President Chirac's visit yielded only a declaration outlining a future nuclear deal, subject to an "adjustment of [the] international civil nuclear co-operation framework with respect to India" shows that while fiercely independent of the U.S., France would rather let it make the breakthrough in a sensitive area. Even so, the top-level reaffirmation is crucial support for the Indian civilian nuclear programme ahead of the visit of President George Bush and the discussions on the implementation of the July 2005 agreement-in-principle, which has run into difficulties over the separation of the civilian and military nuclear programmes. For his part, Prime Minister Singh used the medium of the joint declaration with France to emphasise that India was ready to accept international safeguards on imported reactors and was committed to honouring "in letter and spirit" its agreement with the U.S. Happily, France and India have paid attention to other aspects of the relationship. The nine agreements, ranging from a framework for defence co-operation to trade, signed during the visit represent a highly positive development. Bilateral trade is still way below mutual expectations, as is French investment in India. But India too must work for that to change. France wields much influence within the European Union, and the two countries stand to gain a lot through robust relations.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Tap the unrealised potential
The problem of hostile witnesses
Imagining India as Hindu rashtra
Bold decisions, clever moves in Kerala
In pursuit of a nuclear deal with India
Samarra's tragedy: the past and the future
`It is elementary'
Mulford's remarks
Much ado
On haemophilia
Internal ombudsman

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu