India and France on Friday signed the framework of an accord paving the way for nuclear power co-operation once New Delhi is able to enter the global atomic energy market, French officials said. The accord covers co-operation on research to the supply of reactors, said an official accompanying French President Nicolas Sarkozy on a state visit to India.
India, which has not signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty, needs to clear hurdles with the UN's nuclear watchdog and the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers Group as part of a landmark nuclear deal it signed with the United States in 2006. Indian prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Friday that talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) were "moving forward," although he is facing domestic opposition.
Singh's left-wing allies fear an accord with the IAEA, which would involve unprecedented inspections, would compromise the country's strategic programme. The French nuclear energy group Areva estimates that India, currently the fourth biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, will need 25 to 30 nuclear reactors. As well as the United States and France, Russia is also eyeing fuel-hungry India as a major atomic energy market.