India, France set to sign nuclear agreement By G. Sudhakar Nair

Marseilles (France), Sept 29 (PTI) India and France are
poised to ink a landmark civil nuclear deal similar to the one
with the United States, which will be the first such agreement
to be initialled by any country with New Delhi signalling an
end to its 34-year-old nuclear apartheid.

Though Indian officials said that the Indo-French
Nuclear Cooperation Agreement is expected to be signed soon,
France gave its clear indications that it will be inked during
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Paris Tuesday for
talks with French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Sarkozy had told P.T.I. that the prospects of
cooperation between France and India in the civil nuclear
field are "very promising" considering his country's
expertise, long tradition of cooperation with New Delhi and an
atmosphere of trust.

India and France had initialled the Framework Agreement
for Civil Nuclear Cooperation in January but could not sign it
pending a waiver from the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Now that the N.S.G. has given its nod, New Delhi and Paris are
free to sign the agreement during Singh's visit to Paris.

The framework agreement was inked during Sarkozy's visit
to India in January this year.

"We have already initialled the framework agreement in
civil nuclear matters. It will certainly come up for review
and possible signature during my visit," Singh told reporters
yesterday when asked whether he expected the nuclear agreement
to be signed during his two-day tour to Paris.
PTI GSN