Sarkozy to push defence, nuclear deals in India

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in India Saturday, the latest in a line of global leaders beating a trade-focused path to the door of the world's second fastest growing economy.

Sarkozy, who will lobby on behalf of French companies chasing multi-billion-dollar Indian contracts for fighter jets and nuclear technology, is being accompanied on the four-day trip by his pop star wife Carla Bruni.

His visit comes a month after US President Barack Obama travelled to India and will be followed in swift succession by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.

Sarkozy is leading a high-powered delegation of seven ministers and around 60 chief executives, including the heads of aircraft-makers Dassault Aviation and EADS, and the state-controlled nuclear group Areva.

Dassault is hoping to pick up a 1.2-billion dollar contract to revamp 56 Mirage-2000 aircraft that France sold India nearly two decades ago.

In an interview with The Hindu newspaper, Sarkozy said he embraced his role as a global lobbyist for French firms.

"Do I want French companies to win contracts and get ahead of their competitors on the Indian market? Of course, I do. And do I think it is my role as head of the French state to help them? ... The answer is once again 'yes'," he said.

At the same time he rejected the label of "super-salesman," saying his ambitions for Franco-Indian ties went "far beyond" the economic sphere.

"India is, first and foremost, a major political partner, an indispensable power without which we cannot rise to the major challenges the world faces," he said.

His visit to India is his first to a G20 state since France took the presidency of the group of developed and major developing economic powers.

During talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he is expected to push his plans for overhauling the global monetary system and combating commodity price volatility.

The two leaders are also expected to focus their discussions on Afghanistan and counter-terrorism.

India's ambitious military spending plans, spread across all three wings of its armed forces, are a source of intense competition among foreign arms manufacturers.

According to global consultancy firm KPMG, India is about to embark on "one of the largest procurement cycles in the world," with an expected 112 billion dollars in defence acquisitions by 2016.

Dassault and EADS are both in the running, together with US and Swedish rivals, for an 11 billion dollar tender by the Indian Air Force to purchase 126 warplanes.

Sarkozy last visited India in 2008, just before he married Bruni, the supermodel turned pop singer who is now a goodwill ambassador for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The couple plan to squeeze in a private visit Sunday to the Taj Mahal,    the 17th century "monument to love" built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his queen Mumtaz Mahal.

On the official level, Sarkozy will be accompanied by Defence Minister Alain Juppe, Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Economy Minister Christine Lagarde.

Indian officials said no contracts would be signed during the visit but there are hopes of progress in talks for Areva to build two nuclear reactors in western India.

The trip kicked off in the southern city of Bangalore, India's high-tech capital, where the president was to tour the Indian Space Research Organisation.

The French leader will meet Prime Minister Singh on Monday in New Delhi, where his wife plans to visit a foundation for children suffering from AIDS.

On Tuesday, he travels to India's commercial capital Mumbai, where he will pay his respects to the victims of the 2008 militant attacks on the city that claimed 166 lives.

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