New Delhi: In his first bilateral state visit to Asia after taking over the Presidency of France, Mr Francois Hollande is arriving here on Thursday with cooperation in civil nuclear energy, counter-terrorism, defence, space and R&D and trade high on the agenda of talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Though the deal for supply of European Pressurised Reactors for the Jaitapur nuclear power plants and also for supply of light Medium Multi-role Combat Aircraft Rafale was not going to be signed in this visit, the status of negotiations would occupy a major part of the discussions.
The EPR deal to be signed between French company Areva and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL)is stuck up in the issues relating to costs, and also saftey and concerns over the nuclear liability law of India, while issue relating to technology transfer dog the Rafale deal.
Economic and trade relations between the two countries would claim no less time and attention of both the leaders.
Accompanying President Hollande’s high-level delegation will be Mr Paul Hermelin who is the CEO of one of France’s biggest IT companies Capgemini. Capgemini employs about 40,000 people in India alone, and it is not just the largest French employer here. (UNI)