Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM’s statement to the media during the State Visit of President of France to India

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome President François Hollande on his State Visit to India. India is his first Asian destination for a bilateral visit. This demonstrates the great importance of this relationship to our two countries.

India regards France as one of its most valued strategic partners. France has given us strong and steadfast support at difficult time. Our relationship is defined by the breadth and diversity of our cooperation, as well as by the intensity of our dialogue. The Joint Statement that is being released today reflects the broad range of activities that is covered by our mutually beneficial engagement.

Today, President Hollande and I exchanged views on a number of bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of common and mutual interest. We reviewed progress on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project and reiterated our commitment to its early implementation as soon as the commercial and technical negotiations, which have made good progress, are completed.

We expressed satisfaction with the progress in our defence cooperation, which is poised to reach a qualitatively new level. Discussions on the MMRCA contract are progressing well. We have also concluded negotiations on the Short Range Surface to Air Missile, which, once approved by the Government, will be co-developed and co-produced in India. There is a welcome shift from defence trade to co-development and co-production of advanced defence items in India, which will help expand our domestic production base and strengthen the India-France strategic partnership.

We also agreed to further strengthen our counter-terrorism and intelligence cooperation.

France has been a longstanding partner in our space programme. In Septermber 2012, I was happy to witness ISRO’s 100th mission, which successfully put a French satellite in orbit. Later this month, ISRO will launch the integrated SARAL satellite carrying the ALTIKA and ARGOS payloads from the French National Space Agency.

Both President Hollande and I agreed on the need to reinvigorate our bilateral economic engagement by harnessing the enormous synergies between our two economies. We welcome the appointment of a French Special Representative for the economic relationship with India. We also look forward to the recommendations of the India-France CEOs Forum to energize our economic relations.

A Broad-based India-EU Trade and Investment Agreement, currently under negotiation, would open new possibilities for trade and investment between our two countries. I have requested President Hollande’s support in ensuring an early conclusion of a balanced and mutually beneficial Agreement.

Culture is as strong a binding force as any between India and France. The second edition of “Bonjour India” is being organized currently in India. The new Cultural Exchange Programme that was signed today and the decision by French film festivals, including the Cannes festival, to celebrate the centenary of Indian cinema will further strengthen our cultural relations.

President Hollande and I also had productive discussions on regional and global issues. France and India share similar worldviews on many issues, including on the need to stabilize the global economy and combat terrorism. We also discussed the situation in Mali. As part of our support to the Malian defence forces and the African-led International Support Mission, India has announced an assistance of 1 million US dollars at the Donors Conference held recently in Addis Ababa.

I once again welcome President Hollande to India and I look forward to working with him to further expand widen and deepen our special bilateral relationship.”