Indo-French nuclear agreement adds `new dimension` to ties: PM

Paris, Sept 30 (PTI) Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
Tuesday said the civil nuclear cooperation agreement between
India and France added a "new dimension" to their strategic
partnership and conveyed his gratitude to Paris for its
consistent support to the country's atomic initiative.

"Today we have added a new dimension to our strategic
partnership by signing an inter-governmental agreement on
civil nuclear cooperation," Singh said in a statement after
his talks with French President Nicholas Sarkozy during which
the landmark nuclear agreement was inked.

France, the Prime Minister said, is the first country
with which India has entered into such an agreement after the
lifting of international restrictions on civil nuclear
cooperation with New Delhi by the Nuclear Suppliers Group.

"I conveyed to President Sarkozy our gratitude for
France's consistent support to our civil nuclear initiative,"
he said.

A joint statement issued after their talks said the two
countries welcomed the agreement adjusting the international
civil nuclear cooperation framework to enable collaborations
with India.
agreement for civil nuclear cooperation, which will form the
basis of wide-ranging bilateral collaborations in energy and
research," it said.

Singh said defence cooperation between India and France
should move away from a buyer-seller relationship to joint
production and transfer of technology.

The Prime Minister said the two countries are on course
to achieve the target of raising their bilateral trade to 12
billion Euro by 2012.

"We agreed to work towards promoting and facilitating
investments in each other's countries," he said.

Singh called Sarkozy a "great friend of India" under
whose dynamic leadership New Delhi seeks to further deepen and
expand strategic partnership with France.

During the talks at the Elysees Palace, the home to the
French President, the two leaders reviewed the progress that
has been made in cooperation in the areas of trade and
investment, science and technology, space, defence, culture
and education since Sarkozy's visit to India in January.

Singh described the agreement in the field of peaceful
uses of outer space and social security as important.

He said the two countries also agreed on the need to
reform international institutions, including the U.N., to more
effectively deal with issues like the international financial
crisis.