N-deal with France likely today

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Marseilles, Sep 29: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday hinted at agreement on civil nuclear cooperation likely with France at Tuesday’s talks with President Nicholas Sarkozy.

‘‘India seeks co-operation with all countries in matters relating to promotion of civil nuclear energy in our country’’. The US Congress is now working out the process of passing a legislation which would promote bilateral cooperation.

‘‘Sometime ago, the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) adjusted its guildelines for civil nuclear cooperation with India. We look forward to work with France and other nations in this area. We are having a summit on Tuesday, I expect some results will come out of this summit,’’ the PM said in a joint interaction with the press along with the French President.

The PM asked whether India would sign a civil nuclear cooperation with France on Tuesday.

Sarkozy said at a time when the whole world was talking about climate change it needs to be recognised that nuclear energy is the cleanest form of energy. He said on Tuesday he would discuss with Singh the issue of nuclear cooperation and take a decision.

To a question on Iran’s nuclear programme, the PM said that India will not support Iran’s nuclear weapon ambitions and joined the EU in asking Tehran to ‘‘re-establish’’ confidence in the nature of its nuclear programme. But in some balancing act, Singh, however, said that Iran as a signatory of to the NPT was entitled to all that is needed to develop its nuclear programme for which it must undertake all the obligations.