President Nicolas Sarkozy of France did one better than America’s Barack Obama: he clinched deals worth $20 billion with India in defence, atomic energy and civil aviation, while Mr Obama left New Delhi with trade deals worth $10 billion which promised to create 50,000 new jobs in the US.

Mr Sarkozy ensured that France’s state-run nuclear agency Areva became the first foreign entity after the end of India’s nuclear isolation in 2008 to firm up pacts for the construction of new nuclear reactors in India. (Russia was already a player in the Indian nuclear industry.)
In separate deals, the European aviation consortium Airbus Industrie signed lease contracts for the supply of four and ten A-330 aircraft to Air India and Jet Airways respectively, while French tyremaker Michelin signed a protocol contract to invest in a factory in Tamil Nadu.
Mr Sarkozy topped this up by bringing European defence electronics group Thales close to finalising negotiations to upgrade Mirage-2000 fighter jets in the Indian Air Force and to equip them with missiles.
While the French defence and aerospace conglomerate Safran is in advanced negotiations to jointly develop a fighter jet with India, the European missile and missile systems manufacturer MBDA was optimistic of bagging a deal to jointly develop surface-to-air missiles.
Further, the French President made the right noises, which would have pleased his hosts, by admonishing Pakistan for not doing enough on terrorism, appreciating India’s restraint in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai, and reiterating France’s support for India’s quest for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.
“It (UNSC seat) is not just an important matter for India but for the equilibrium of the world,” Mr Sarkozy said in his opening remarks at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Hyderabad House here. He thought it would be unfair for a country with a population of over a billion to be kept out of the UNSC.
India and France signed seven agreements in all, including the general framework agreement and the early works agreement between NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) and Areva for the implementation of EPRs (European pressurised reactors) at Jaitapur in Maharashtra.
The three other agreements relating to civil nuclear energy were on intellectual property rights, protection of confidentiality of technical data and information, and cooperation agreement between the department of atomic energy and France’s “Commissariat A L’energie Atomique Et Aux Energies Alternatives” in the field of nuclear science and technology.
Also signed were a pact on film coproduction and a memorandum of understanding between the Indian Space Research Organisation and France’s Centre National D’etudes Spatiales for cooperation in earth systems sciences and climate.
Dr Singh said India would soon set up a cultural centre in Paris. France, he was to add, will collaborate with India in establishing a centre of excellence at the Indian Institute of Technology, Rajasthan.
“We discussed other regional and global issues of common concern, including the situation in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and (Burma), terrorism and climate change,” he noted.