New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived
here tonight on a visit which is expected to help India and
France "build" a strategic partnership in atomic energy,
defence, trade and other key areas.
Before leaving, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday hoped
his visit would help India and France "build" its strategic
partnership in atomic energy, defence and other areas.
Singh will be in the French Capital on the first leg of
his five-day two-nation tour that will also take him to
Sharm-el Sheikh in Egypt tomorrow for the 15th Non-Aligned
Summit during which he would meet his Pakistani counterpart
Yousuf Raza Gilani. Singh hopes to get a categoric commitment
from Gilani that Mumbai attackers would be punished and
cross-border terror stopped.
Singh, who is visiting Paris at the invitation of French
President Nicolas Sarkozy, will be the chief guest at the
National Day celebrations of France, which he said "is an
honour for the people of India."
"We would like to build upon our partnership in the areas
of trade and investment, high technology, space, nuclear
energy, defence, education, culture, tourism and scientific
research and development," Singh said in a departure
statement. In a communique, Sarkozy has said he wishes to
"honour" France`s strategic partnership with India through
Singh`s visit.
At the recent meeting of Group of Eight Industrialised
countries(G-8) in L`Aquila in Italy, the US had persuaded the
developed world to stop transfer of enrichment and
reprocessing items to non-NPT nations including India.
On the NAM Summit, Singh said India will play its part in
helping the movement regain its "moral high ground" to address
issues which are of direct concern and relevance to developing
countries."
"India and France enjoy a close and wide ranging
strategic partnership. Our relations with France encompass a
large number of areas and have served our national interests
well," Singh said in his statement.
In his communique, Sarkozy said France fully supported
India`s bid for UN Security Council seat and had called for
enlargement of G-8 to include India, Brazil and China, and
other emerging economies in the grouping.
France, which had signed a civil nuclear energy pact with
India last September is a member of both G-8 and Nuclear
Suppliers Group (NSG).
Atomic Energy Chairman Anil Kakodkar has said that it
would be a matter of concern if the G-8 nations insisted on
banning transfers of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing
technology and equipment to non-signatories of the NPT.
Further strengthening defence cooperation is also likely
to figure prominently in the Singh-Sarkozy talks.
Defence Secretary Vijay Singh will be part of the PM`s
delegation to the talks.
Dealing with NAM, Singh said non-alignment has been the
bedrock of India`s foreign policy since it was enunciated by
late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
"Non-alignment remains an article of faith for us," he
said, adding in the post-Cold War era, when the world was no
longer divided into two military blocs, the NAM has a renewed
role to play in the emerging world order.
Singh said the diversity and universality of the NAM
offered the grouping a unique opportunity to address present
day challenges.
The issues to figure in NAM would range from sustainable
development and climate change to food security, energy
security, terrorism and reform of the architecture of
international governance, Singh said.
The PM said during his stay in Egypt, he would hold
bilateral meetings with leaders of Bangladesh, Egypt, Nepal,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Vietnam.
The highlight of Singh`s visit to Egypt will be his
meeting with Gilani on the margins of NAM summit.
Singh has made it clear that New Delhi would "do all that
is necessary" to resolve all outstanding issues if Pakistan
takes "credible action" to deal with terrorist elements
targeting India.
Singh said he hoped that the Pakistani leader would give
a "renewed reaffirmation" to bring the perpetrators of 26/11
attacks to justice and that they would not allow Pakistani
soil to be used for terror acts directed against India.
The Singh-Gilani meeting, expected on July 16, will take
place one month after the Indian leader met President Asif Ali
Zardari in Yekaterinburg in Russia. During that meeting, Singh
had bluntly told Zardari under media glare that Pakistan must
end terror directed against India.
Prior to the two PMs` meeting, Foreign Secretary
Shivshankar Menon and his Pakistani counterpart Salman Bashir
would discuss what Islamabad has done to bring to book 26/11
perpetrators and to dismantle terror infrastructure.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna and National
Security Adviser M K Narayanan are part of Singh`s delegation
to the NAM Summit.
Bureau Report
