NEW DELHI: France signed a 9.3-billion-dollar framework agreement to sell two nuclear reactors to India on Monday during a trade-centred visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy to New Delhi.
India inked the deal with France’s state-run nuclear group Areva for the purchase of two reactors for a new plant in Jaitapur in the western state of Maharashtra.
“Negotiations (with Areva) have reached an advanced stage to pave the way for the launching of nuclear power reactors in Jaitapur in partnership with Indian industry,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told a joint press conference.
The deal is short of a final sale contract, but it means Areva has moved ahead of US and Japanese competitors in the race to sell reactors to India, which aims to tap atomic power for a quarter of its electricity demands by 2050. Russia is already constructing two nuclear power units in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.
Deals totalling 15 billion euros (20 billion dollars) have been signed or are about to be signed with Indian companies, Sarkozy’s office said, including a leasing agreement for 14 Airbus planes and the modernisation of 51 French-made Mirage fighter jets.
The French leader is on a four-day trip to India, where he is seeking deeper trade ties while seeking to build a partnership with a democratic country seen as a counterbalance in Asia to China. Sarkozy reiterated his support for India to have a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and suggested it might simply upgrade its current temporary seat in 2012.
