French President Francois Hollande has put an end to all speculation, giving a definitive shape to India's willingness to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets. While both the countries signed the Inter-Government Agreement, which will form the basis for the commercial deal, the pricing however, is yet to be resolved which, Hollande said, would be sorted out in a “few days”.
The pact was signed by Defence Ministers of both the sides, in the presence of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hollande. Modi announced, “We are very happy that we have formed an agreement for purchase of 36 Rafale aircraft with France.” He added there are “some financial issues” which will be sorted out soon. “Leaving out the financial aspect, India and France have signed the IGA on the purchase of 36 Rafale fighter jets. We expect that even the financial aspects pertaining to purchase of Rafale jets will be resolved as soon as possible,” he said. Calling the MoU as a “decisive” step and stressing that the Rafale jets have been “proving their efficacy in targeting the ISIS”, Hollande said, “Some financial issues remain that will be sorted out in the next coming days.” Manufacturer of Rafale, Dassault Aviation said in a statement, “We are very pleased with this progress, and are actively supporting French authorities in their efforts to finalise a complete agreement within the next four weeks.”
Both the sides also agreed to renew their bilateral agreement on defence cooperation, which was signed in 2006, by another 10 years. New Delhi and Paris issued a strongly-worded joint statement on counter-terrorism, and asked for decisive action to be taken against “Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Muhammad, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Haqqani Network and other terrorist groups such as al Qaeda.” The statement read, “Condemning the recent terror attack in Pathankot and Gurdaspur in India, the two countries reiterated their call for Pakistan to bring to justice their perpetrators and the perpetrators of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, which also caused the demise of two French citizens, and to ensure that such attacks do not recur in the future.” It also said the two countries also resolved to “step up” their bilateral cooperation through annual strategic dialogues and meetings of the joint working group to counter terrorism.
“From Paris to Pathankot, we saw the gruesome face of the common challenge of terrorism… I also commend the strength of your resolve and action to these terrorist attacks. President Hollande and I have agreed to scale up the range of our counter-terrorism cooperation in a manner that helps us tangibly mitigate and reduce the threat of extremism and terrorism to our societies,” said Modi. “Daesh has attacked us. The ISIS is provoking us but we are determined to take the right decision. We will strike them time and again, those who kill our children. I would like to thank you for the support in dire circumstances. France will never forget. We have decided to strengthen our cooperation against terror,” said Hollande.
On civilian nuclear cooperation, Modi and Hollande agreed on a roadmap to “speed up” discussions on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project in 2016. “Their shared aim is to start the implementation of the project in early 2017,” the joint statement said. Expressing hope that the issues pertaining to nuclear reactor plants would be settled within a year, Hollande said, “There is no better trust than sharing civil nuclear technology.”
“India and France underscored their determination to achieve the accession of India to the NSG in 2016,” the joint statement said.
Apart from the MoU on Rafale jets, the two countries signed 13 agreements, including space, railways, culture and science and technology.
