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Delhi, Paris firm up nuclear pact

Photo: V.V. Krishnan

Fillip to ties: French President Nicolas Sarkozy with President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the ceremonial reception at the Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. —

NEW DELHI: India and France on Friday sought to give a new momentum to their relations by finalising an agreement for cooperation in the civil nuclear field and agreeing to move defence ties beyond the buyer-seller relationship.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said this at a joint news conference with the visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the end of their talks.

“In defence cooperation, we have decided to go beyond the buyer-seller relationship by increasing our focus on joint research and development projects, technology transfer and greater military exchanges,” said Dr. Singh in his opening statement.

Dr. Singh said, “We have finalised negotiations for a bilateral pact on cooperation in civil nuclear energy. I conveyed our appreciation of France’s steadfast support for lifting the restrictions.”

France agreed with the reasoning that a pact could be signed after India got special exemption from the Nuclear Suppliers Group, he pointed out.

Defence relationship between the two nations began in the 1950s, and the sales and maintenance support remained uninterrupted despite the 1965 war and the 1974 and 1998 nuclear tests.

In the civil nuclear field, France helped India in setting up the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam near Chennai and the heavy water production facility in Vadodara in Gujarat. It also supplied enriched uranium for the Tarapur plant following the suspension of supplies by the U.S. after 1974.

Dr. Singh and Mr. Sarkozy underlined the need for reforming multilateral institutions, with Paris once again supporting New Delhi’s bid for a permanent seat in an expanded United Nations Security Council.

Both countries reaffirmed their resolve to ensure close cooperation between their intelligence agencies to combat terrorism. “We both have experienced Islamic terrorism in the same manner. India is in a region where France has troops. I need not spell out why we should strengthen cooperation between the intelligence services,” Mr. Sarkozy said.

The President complimented India on its non-proliferation record and noted its moratorium on further nuclear weapons testing.

“The need for energy in India is huge. If the way to nuclear energy is barred, India will have to turn to more polluting energy sources. The French flagship nuclear company, Areva, will help India in achieving lasting and sustained growth,” he said.

Five agreements, including one on cooperation in nuclear research, were signed at the venue of the press conference.

The accord between the French Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Atomic Energy was for constructing and operating a Jules Hotowitz (JH) reactor in France.

It was agreed to intensify exchange of nuclear scientists and establish structures for training and undertaking nuclear safety research.

The two sides decided to reinforce the dialogue between the nuclear safety authorities, especially in the context of future industrial cooperation.

In defence, a pact was signed for mutual protection of classified information.

Agreements were signed on transfer of sentenced prisoners and the India-French Development Cooperation through the French Development Agency. An MoU was also signed for establishing an International Associated Laboratory in neurosciences.

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