India and France celebrate the 20th anniversary of their strategic partnership and strengthen a few weeks ago their bilateral strategic partnership through cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region, defense, space and civil nuclear energy sectors. Minister of the European and Foreign Affairs of France, Jean-Yves le Drihan and Minister of External Affairs of India, Sushma Swaraj reviewed the status of the Evolutionary Power Reactor (EPR) project at Jaitapur in coastal Maharashtra. Jaitapur is situated about 600 kilometers south of Mumbai in Maharashtra.
In March 2018, India and France strategic partnership reached a new milestone with the agreement to accelerate the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant project, which was to begin work on the site by the end of the year 2018.
The nuclear agreement between India and France was signed in 2008 for construction of a nuclear power plant in Jaitapur. The project involves the transfer of production, technology, joint research and training.
The power plant will have six reactors, each of which has a capacity of 1650 MW. It will produce 9,6 gigawatts of electricity. India aims to generate 40 percent of its electricity by non-fossil fuels by 2030.
Swaraj said that the foundation of India and France strategic partnership is based on “mutual trust”. The bilateral trade was 9.62 billion Euros in 2017, both countries want to reach 15 billion euros by 2022
Both the countries want to strengthen their strategic partnership in other fields:
- Cooperation in the Hindi-Pacific region,
- Training and joint exercises in Defense,
- Strengthening the relations in the space sector,
- Investment in urban development and digital economy,
- Exchange of 10,000 students by 2020.
