France would abide by India's law on nuclear energy: Envoy

Amid allegations against the UPA government that it was trying to dilute the Nuclear Liability Laws, France today assured that it would abide by India's laws. "As far as the (Nuclear) Liability Law is concerned, during his visit, our President Francois Hollande had stated, we would of course, work in the framework of Indian law. Because, we have to work in India, we have to work within the framework of Indian law" France Ambassador to India, Francois Richier, told reporters here.

"This is a natural thing. Of course, how it is applied is a matter of discussion. By definition, we will abide by India.", Richier said to a query.

Richier was here to take part in the conference on "Solar Energy: Potential, Means, Technology" organised by Embassy of France. Ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visit to United States, a controversy has broken out over the nuclear liability law with reports suggesting that an agreement which may not be in tune with the law was expected to be signed, which the Government has denied.

Commenting about the France's engagement in the nuclear power sector, he said, "after Fukushima, there had been discussion on the safety element. We have conducted several study in this respect. We have shared the safety study with the Indian authorities, because we believe that we have to be fully transparent".

"We build in France, exactly the same reactor that India is planning to build in Maharashtra. So, we share the same safety objective between France and India and I think, it is very important to highlight", he said.

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According to Richier, with the cooperation of France, India has planned to set up six nuclear reactors each of 1650MW with particularly two to be located in Jaitapur, Maharashtra.

He said, "during the visit our President stated that we are fully supporting the Maharashtra project which of course will last 50-60 years. It is a very long term investment", he said.

Asked about the import of wine from France, Richier said due to the delay in signing the Indo-European Union Free Trade Agreement, there was some "hurdles" in importing wines to India from France.

"The first issue is of course, the Indo-European Union Free Trade Agreement, which is currently being negotiated. The custom duties and other excise are extremely high. And this is something which is creating some hurdles in the development of exchanges in the Wine sector", he said.

"We export only Euro eight million of high quality wines to India. We expect that in future, once this (Indo-European Union FTA) agreement is concluded, it will boost the Indo-French commerce in wine. It is not only a matter of trade, we also want to cooperate with Indian wine makers", he said.

Noting that the India and France bilateral trade was around Euro 8 bn, he said, "several elements have impeded the growth of the trade, that is of course low growth in Europe and lesser (GDP) growth in India".

The trade volume between the countries is likely to grow by one more billion during this year, he said. PTI VIJ MSR RC HKS 09201918 NNNN