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Indo-French defence talks next week

NEW DELHI: India and France will hold high-level discussions on defence ties next week ahead of the visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy early next year. The meeting, to be co-chaired by Defence Secretary Vijay Singh and representative of French Minister of Defence Thierry Borja de Mozota, will discuss the schedule of the next joint maritime exercises, high-level visits and transfer of technology.

But, the committee’s deliberations will take place against the backdrop of a demarche served by France this week on India after the cancellation of a deal for about 200 helicopters. Eurocopter, with substantial French interest, was the sole company in contention for supplying helicopters to the Indian Army. The contract was nearly in the last lap with the U.S.-based competitor having been eliminated earlier on technical grounds.

Apart from the demarche, the Ministry of Defence’s decision to scrap the tenders led to the seeking of an explanation from the Indian Ambassador in Paris by the French President’s Office, sources said.

The arrival of the French Defence Ministry team takes place amidst a flurry of activity by Paris in India.

On Monday, a French naval delegation led by its Chief Admiral Alain Oudot de Dainville met the top brass here including Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Chief of the Naval Staff Sureesh Mehta and other top service officials.

A French company is constructing six submarines in Mumbai for the Indian Navy at a cost of over Rs. 15,000 crore. It is also interested in the Ministry of Defence’s deliberations over the possibility of buying another six submarines. The argument that more submarines of the same type would cut down inventory costs would hold true for a subsequent French offer. But according to India’s submarine construction plan, the country should be self-sufficient in building the next lot of submarines and any foreign help should be minimal. Sources in the Ministry of External Affairs here said they had not heard of any French “pressure” for orders for more submarines.

The visit by the French naval and Ministry of Defence delegation will be followed by the visit of External Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner. Besides discussing more military level interaction, the two sides could also touch on a version of Mirage-2000 fighters, required by the Indian Air Force to check depletion in its force levels.

Three sub-committees under the Indo-French High Level Committee on Defence will also simultaneously meet next week. They will roll out plans for service-to-service activities for the next year, discuss regional issues, transfer of technology, procurement and research & technology.

Multidimensional Indo-French defence ties began taking shape after the signing of a bilateral agreement on the supply of defence equipment in 1982, followed by the sale of Mirage fighters. Closer ties were required because of the inherent nature of a fighter aircraft deal — the need to ensure uninterrupted supply of equipment, services and related technology.

The ties were interrupted when the French began contemplating the sale of Mirage 2000 fighters in 1995. But three years later, former French President Jacques Chirac initiated a Governmental agreement to revitalise defence cooperation. Since then, the Indo-French High Committee on Defence Cooperation has met nine times.

India regards France as an all-weather friend after it did not terminate its strategic and defence ties after the Pokhran nuclear tests of 1998.

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