NEW DELHI, April 13 (AFP) - Indian President K.R. Narayanan leaves for France this weekend for talks to boost dwindling trade and strengthen bilateral links, Foreign Secretary Lalit Mansingh said Thursday.
Narayanan, the first Indian president to visit France, will hold talks with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin during his six-day state visit, Mansingh told reporters.
The president, who plays a purely constitutional role, will also visit French aeronautical facilities in Toulouse, he said, but rejected speculation the trip was linked to possible aviation or defence deals.
The foreign secretary also said Narayanan's trip was part of stepped up exchanges since Chirac's trip to India two years ago.
"It is a return visit to the one paid by Chirac in January 1998, which imparted a new dynamism to Indo-French relations," Mansingh said.
Chirac's trip was the fourth French presidential visit here since Giscard D'Estaing in January 1980.
"The suceeding years have witnessed steady ministerial, parliamentary and official exchanges, including a visit by Indian Prime Minister Atal Vajpayee to France in September 1998 and a visit by the Indian speaker last month.
"France has, in recent years, emerged as one of India's most imortant interlocutors in the international community.
"The strategic dialogue initiated during the prime minister's visit to France has, apart from providing depth to the bilateral relationship, also contributed to an enhancement of understanding between India and the European Union," he said.
France was among the few Western nations which did not attack India for its string of nuclear tests in May 1998, which drew US-led sanctions, especially against New Delhi's space and military programmes.
France has, however, urged India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
Mansingh said levels of bilateral trade and French investments to India remained below expectations.
"The president's visit will provide an opportunity for taking stock of this relationship and will consolidate further the understanding which exists between the two countries," the foreign secretary said.
Mansingh said the two sides were hopeful of signing a Bilateral Investment Promotion Agreement to remove obstacles to trade, which stood at two billion dollars in 1998, but shrunk by 420 million dollars the following year, with the balance heavily in India's favour.
French firms have pledged a total of 1.4 billion dollars in investments in India since 1991 but only 400 million dollars have actually materialised.
Describing the current 542 Indo-French joint ventures here as "low value" projects, Mansingh said French industry should tap into India's booming information technology sector.
"Current trade is below potential and the president's visit will heighten French awareness in India," he said.
Airbus Industrie still hopes to pick up a 2.23-billion dollar contract from Air India, while the French aeronautical firm Dassault is competing for a 1.16-billion-dollar contract to supply advanced jet trainers to the technology-starved Indian air force.
India would like to see France stop selling its defence equipment to Pakistan, which has fought three wars with India in the past 52 years.:
