World | India
Chirac will sign nuclear agreement with India during February 19 visit
French President Jacques Chirac is scheduled to arrive here on February 19 on a two-day visit to sign a major nuclear agreement with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
- By Seema Mustafa, The Asian Age
- Published: 00:00 January 31, 2006
New Delhi: French President Jacques Chirac is scheduled to arrive here on February 19 on a two-day visit to sign a major nuclear agreement with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
India and France have readied a draft that could emerge as a Common Declaration on the Peaceful Use of Nuclear Energy or alternatively, on Nuclear Cooperation.
Chirac, who has been invited by Singh, will be seeking to take the strategic and economic relationship between the two countries forward.
India is keen to enter the nuclear agreement as a showcase for the critics of the India-United States nuclear deal.
It wants to prove that the July agreement with US President George W. Bush had, in fact, been a precursor to more such tie-ups with key countries in the world and a demonstration of the international community's willingness to recognise India as a responsible nuclear power.
In fact, during Singh's visit to France last September, Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran had told reporters that the United States, the United Kingdom and "now France are all agreed that civil nuclear cooperation [with India] is high on their agenda".
France, according to the sources, is keen to enter the civil nuclear market in India for potential commercial use in the forseeable future.
Singh had already targeted this aspect during his visit when he said in an interview to Le Figaro, "I hope that if the restrictions [by the Nuclear Suppliers Group on India] are lifted there will be possibility for India to import reactors from countries like France.
He said there was no reason to think that relations with France will be affected by India's partnership with the United States.
Nuclear reactors are being developed by only three countries in the world, namely the United States, France and Russia who have all been taking a keen and direct interest in India's bid to secure nuclear energy.
The US-based Westinghouse, France's Avera and Russia's Atomstroy Export (ASE) have made bids for reactors in China and are in direct competition for a share of the limited nuclear market in the world.
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