| Note the discussion of French sales of nuclear materials to the Indians. |
NEW DELHI - French President Jacques Chirac arrived in India on Sunday for a whistle-stop visit aimed at bolstering trade and civilian nuclear cooperation with the emerging economic powerhouse.Chirac, whose visit will be followed by the arrival of US President George Bush in early March, has said he will seek to boost slim trade levels with AsiaÂ’s third-largest economy where growth is running at an eight percent clip. The president arrived with five ministers, including his foreign minister, and about 30 top business leaders, keen to help expand bilateral trade.
Fuel-hungry India and France, which relies on nuclear power for its energy needs, will also discuss future civilian nuclear technology cooperation. “If we don’t help India produce electricity using nuclear power, we would let develop in India a chimney for greenhouse gases,” Chirac said Saturday in Bangkok.
“The minimum we must do is to let India respond to its energy needs without becoming a major polluting nation,” he said. “I wish that we could, within the non-proliferation framework and existing agreements, help India respond to this need,” he said.
French nuclear companies could be big winners if a landmark Indo-US agreement to supply New Delhi with long-denied civilian nuclear technology is approved by the US Congress.