India and France today concludednegotiations on the Short Range Surface to Air Missile nearlyworth of USD six billion during the talks between FrenchPresident Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,who also said talks on USD 10-billion deal for Rafale fighteraircraft are "progressing well".
After a comprehensive talks, the leaders said viewswere exchanged on a number of bilateral, regional andmultilateral issues of common interest including defence ties,civil nuclear cooperation, counter-terrorism and situation inMali.
Observing that India is Hollande's first Asian destinationfor a bilateral trip, Singh said this demonstrates theimportance of this relationship between the two countries.
"President Hollande and I exchanged views on a number ofbilateral, regional and multilateral issues of commoninterest. We reviewed progress on the Jaitapur Nuclear PowerProject and reiterated our commitment to its earlyimplementation as soon as the commercial and technicalnegotiations, which have made good progress, are completed,"Singh said at a joint press event after the talks.
Expressing satisfaction with the progress in defencecooperation, Singh said, "Discussions on the MMRCA contractare progressing well. We have also concluded negotiations onthe Short Range Surface to Air Missile, which, once approvedby the Government, will be co-developed and co-produced inIndia," while noting that the defence ties were poised toreach a qualitatively new level.
The Rs 30,000 crore worth of SR-SAM project is a co-development joint venture between India and France and wouldbe developed by MBDA of France and DRDO from the Indianside. The surface to air missile defence system would bedeployed by the IAF and the Navy.
Hollande, also accompanied by a large contingent of Frenchbusiness leaders, including Dassault chief executive EricTrappier, whose company is hoping to seal the deal to sell 126Rafale warplanes to India in the world's biggest defencecontract currently under negotiation.
On his part, Hollande said he has come to take theIndo-French strategic partnership to "yet another level" whilenoting that the defence cooperation reflects India's trust forFrench technology and France's trust for use of technology byIndia. "India is a country of peace", the French Presidentadded.
The two sides also inked four pacts, including one in thefield of railways