After signing Indo-France nuclear pact, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on Tuesday civil nuclear cooperation agreement added a “new dimension” to their strategic partnership. The bilateral agreement will form the basis of wide-ranging joint collaborations in energy and research.
France is the first country with which India has entered into such an agreement after remaining in nuclear isolation for 34 long years. The lifting of international restrictions on civil nuclear cooperation with India could be accomplished three weeks ago after the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted a vital waiver to it.
The two countries also signed significant ties in the field of peaceful uses of outer space and social security. “We agreed that defence cooperation between India and France should move away from a buyer-seller relationship to joint production and transfer of technology,” said the Prime Minister, adding that they reiterated commitment to further strengthening cooperation in a wide range of areas and to keep up the momentum of regular high level exchanges.
Vowing to take bilateral trade to a new height, the PM said India and France will work towards promoting and facilitating investments in each other’s countries and achieve the target of bilateral trade to 12 billion Euros by 2012.
The joint statement read: India and France agreed on the need for greater international cooperation to deal with challenges facing mankind. Both countries are committed to international peace and security, nuclear non-proliferation, the battle against terrorism and the need to ensure food security and energy for all countries.
Both countries are fully committed to consolidating their relationship in the field of defence by increasing the range, level and frequency of their military exchanges, joint exercises, joint programmes and prospects in the fields of defence industry, research and technology.
India and France also underlined the vitality of Indo-French scientific, technical and educational cooperation. We will continue to encourage initiatives aimed at promoting exchanges of students, researchers and academics and at deepening institutional linkages between our universities.
Calculating his visit has opened new vistas in India’s relations with France based on shared commitment to democracy, pluralism and the rule of law, Singh said, “We reviewed the progress in the areas of trade and investment, science and technology, space, defence, culture and education since President Sarkozy’s visit to India in January this year, and discussed ways and means to further strengthen our relations.”
|
|
Comments:
