India, France sign civil nuclear pact

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New Delhi, Sep 30: Putting an end to its over three decades of isolation in the nuclear energy market, France on Tuesday became the first country to ink a civil nuclear agreement with India.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, on Tuesday announced a ‘‘a new dimension’’ to their strategic partnership by signing a co-operation agreement on civilian nuclear energy as well as two more pacts in areas ranging from space and counter-terrorism to business and high-end research in Paris.

With this agreement, France became the first country out of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers group (NSG) to sign such a pact after they lifted over global restrictions on nuclear trade with India.

The agreement on the development of peaceful uses of nuclear energy will form the basis of wide-ranging bilateral civil nuclear cooperation. It will span the entire gamut from basic and applied research to reactors, nuclear fuel supply, nuclear safety, radiation and environment, protection and nuclear fuel cycle management. The pact was signed by French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner and India's Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar at the Elysee Palace.

The agreement clears the way for French companies like Areva to begin supply nuclear reactors to India. However, the actual nuclear trade may have to wait till India signs the 123 agreement with the US which is awaiting clearance by the Senate on Wednesday.

‘‘Today we have added a new dimension to our strategic partnership by signing an inter-governmental agreement on civil nuclear cooperation,’’ said Singh. According to a joint statement, both countries decided to give a new impetus to their cooperation for the development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes as an expression of their strategic partnership. It also noted that both the countries share common concerns and objectives in the field of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery including in view of possible linkages to terrorism.

As responsible states with advanced nuclear technologies, including in the fuel cycle, the two countries are interested to promote nuclear energy with the highest standards of safety and security, the statement said. India and France also signed a pact on peaceful uses of outer space and a social security agreement that will ease working of Indian professionals in France. And they decided to transform current buyer-seller relationship in the defence sector to joint production and transfer of cutting-edge technology.