Indo-French civil N-pact likely to be signed during PM's France visit

Marseilles: Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh indicated over the weekend that the India-France civil nuclear cooperation agreement could likely be signed in Paris on 30 September, when he commences his official visit to France.

''We have already initialled the framework agreement in civil nuclear matters. It will certainly come up for review and possible signature during my visit,'' Singh said when asked by reporters accompanying him whether he expected the nuclear agreement to be signed during his two-day tour to Paris.

The framework agreement was initialled during French president Nicolas Sarkozy's visit to India in January this year.

Observers point out that the presence of Atomic Energy Commission chief Anil Kakodkar also indicated that the likelihood of a Indo-French nuclear pact being signed was high.

Should the accord be signed, it will become the first such agreement by any country after a crucial waiver being granted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). The waiver exempts India from being subject to customary rules and regulations under which NSG members are prevented from trading in nuclear fuel and technologies with non-NPT signatories. India is one of only three such nations, along with Israel and Pakistan, not to have signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India is currently awaiting passage of the Indo-US nuclear civil cooperation treaty, which has to be cleared by the US Senate to become an Act. It has already received necessary approval form the US House of Representatives.