France has assured India of “full support” in dealing with the threat posed by cross-border terrorism, particularly from Pakistan-based terror outfits Hizbul Mujahideen, lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad.
In his talks with Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar, Secretary General of French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Christian Masset also renewed his country’s “unconditional” support to India’s bid for membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
He even conveyed to Jaishankar France’s willingness to assist India in joining other export control regimes.
Masset termed the conclusion of the intergovernmental agreement on Rafale jets as a major step in the Indo-French strategic partnership, which he said would give an unmatched impetus to the bilateral defence cooperation for the decades to come.
He also welcomed the progress made in the negotiations on the France-India nuclear project for building six EPRs (evolutionary power nuclear reactors) in Jaitapur, in accordance with the roadmap agreed on by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Francois Hollande in January.
“Masset reiterated France’s unconditional support for India’s entry into the Nuclear Suppliers Group, hoping that it would meet the same success as it did for joining the MTCR. He expressed France’s willingness to assist India in joining other export control regimes, starting with the Wassenaar Arrang-ement,” the French Embassy said in a release.