PM carries a bouquet of hopes for French tour

On a five-day visit, Singh will travel from Paris to Sharm-el Sheikh in Egypt on Tuesday for the 15th Non-aligned Summit during which he would meet his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani with the hope of getting a categorical commitment that Mumbai attackers would be punished and cross-border terror stopped.

Singh, who is visiting Paris at the invitation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy will be the chief guest at the National Day celebrations of France, which he said "is an honour for the people of India."

"India and France enjoy a close and wide ranging strategic partnership. Our relations with France encompass a large number of areas and have served our national interests well," Singh said in a departure statement.

"We would like to build upon our partnership in the areas  of trade and investment, high technology, space, nuclear energy, defence, education, culture, tourism and scientific research and development," Singh said.

At the G-8 meeting in L'Aquila in Italy last week, the United States had persuaded the developed world to stop transfer of enrichment and reprocessing items to non-NPT
(Non-Proliferation Treaty) nations, including India.

France, which had signed a civil nuclear energy pact with India last September is a member of both G-8 and Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).

Atomic Energy Chairman Anil Kakodkar had said that it would be a matter of concern if the G-8 nations insisted on banning transfers of nuclear enrichment and reprocessing technology and equipment to non-signatories of the NPT.

In a communiqué, the French President said he wishes to "honour" France's strategic partnership with India through Singh's visit.

France, he said, fully supported India's bid for United Nations Security Council seat and had called for enlargement of G-8 to include India, Brazil and China, and other emerging economies in the grouping.

Further strengthening defence cooperation is also likely to figure prominently in the talks Singh will have with Sarkozy.

Defence Secretary Vijay Singh will be part of the PM's delegation to the talks.