rediff.com: France offers nuke help if India signs CTBT: AFP

France is willing to cooperate with India in the civilian nuclear sector if New Delhi signs the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, according to French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine.

"We have said that we are ready to increase our cooperation in the field of civilian nuclear technology," Vedrine said in an interview with The Hindu newspaper.

"That would meet and satisfy a great need in India," said Vedrine, who is due to arrive in India on Thursday for a two-day visit aimed at strengthening bilateral relations.

Vedrine stressed that in order for cooperation to flourish, India "has to show that it is ready to go along with the international regimes" on nuclear non-proliferation.

Asked if that meant New Delhi signing the CTBT and a treaty halting production of fissile material, Vedrine replied in the affirmative. "Yes ... all the nuclear rules have to be abided with."

Non-proliferation issues are certain to figure high on the agenda of Vedrine's talks with Indian officials in New Delhi.

Since conducting a series of shock underground nuclear tests in May 1998, India has resisted pressure to sign the CTBT, arguing that the document is biased in favour of the five recognised nuclear powers.

The government says it is committed to forming a public consensus on the issue, although Defence Minister George Fernandes said recently that the vote by the US Senate against ratification of the CTBT had resulted in the treaty "sliding into a coma".

France, which distanced itself from the global condemnation of India's tests, as well as the sanctions which followed, has said for two years that it is willing to export civilian nuclear technology to India as along as it abides by international non-proliferation agreements.

Nuclear power is an important resource for India, as current energy production is failing to keep pace with economic development.

While arguing that India could not be recognised as a nuclear power under the criteria laid down by the Non-Proliferation Treaty, Vedrine said India's nuclear capability could not be ignored.

"It is a fact. A fact we have to take into account," he said, adding that France had always been "realistic" in its approach.

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