On Valentine’s Day, India will roll out the red carpet for French President Francois Hollande, marking the blossoming of a crucial strategic relationship that is soaring to new heights.
It’s not a one-sided affair, for a change. The warmth and win-win transactions are reciprocal. Underlining his belief in the India opportunity, Hollande has chosen New Delhi as his first overseas destination outside Europe and Africa and will be descending on the Indian capital with a high-profile delegation comprising senior ministers, officials and top corporate honchos.
There is an ambitious all-encompassing agenda framing the expanding India-France partnership. When the visiting French president sits down for talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Indian capital, there will be a bouquet of issues on the table. The world’s pressing issues, including the festering eurozone crisis, the prospects of global economic recovery, the volatile situation in Mali and the UN reforms will be discussed with an eye on possibilities of closer cooperation in these areas.
On the bilateral track, the focus will be on fast-tracking civil nuclear cooperation, expanding trade and investment and stretching the envelope in areas of research and high-tech.
However, the over $10 billion contract for buying 126 French Rafale fighter aircraft and a contract for French reactors for the Jaitapur nuclear power plant in Maharashtra are unlikely be inked during French President Hollande’s two-day visit to India that starts Feb 14..
Hollande will deliver a lecture at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library Feb 15, where he will honour Nobel laureate and iconic thinker Amartya Sen with the Commandeur de la Legion d’Honneur, France’s highest honour.
In Mumbai, he will be pitching for new targets for business ties which have been hit by the global slowdown.
Underlining the importance of Hollande’s maiden visit to India, the French envoy has underlined that it is “clearly a message” of the importance that Paris places in its strategic ties with New Delhi and a robust acknowledgement of India’s rising global stature.
The basis of the India-France strategic partnership is based on the “very strong perception that India will be one of the greatest powers in the world in the decades to come,” French ambassador François Richier said at an interaction organized by the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi.
“While many had doubts, we have not changed that vision and we were proved right”, the envoy said in a stirring lecture on “What Makes the Indo-French Relations Special: Understanding the Dynamics of the Strategic Partnership”.
He underlined France’s support for India’s bid for becoming a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council and added that Paris will promote New Delhi’s inclusion in top multilateral bodies that control global nuclear trade, including the Nuclear Suppliers Group, Wassenaar Arrangement, Australia Group and Missile Technology Control Regime.
“Definitely, for us, India has a stake here and should be members of these groups as soon as possible,” he said.
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