‘Defence, Civil Nuclear And Space Are The Pillars Of India France Ties’

NEW DELHI: India’s French connection underscores a partnership growing on three distinct pillars: defence, civil nuclear cooperation and space, says Arun Kumar Singh, former ambassador to Paris from 2015-17. In this chat on The Gist, Ambassador Singh says the understandings and agreements reached during Prime Minister Modi’s visit to France last week, lay out a long distance roadmap for bilateral relations. The French decision to help India develop from scratch, a jet engine, flows from the view that this country can absorb such high end technologies. Civil nuclear cooperation has not yet taken off but the French would like more of the work to be done in India, Singh pointed out. This suits Delhi perfectly because it means vital technologies such as EPR (European Pressurized Reactor) will come here, apart from training for Indian engineers. Tune in for more in this conversation with Arun Kumar Singh, former ambassador to Paris.