India top on agenda

“A priority that will certainly not be brought into question by the financial turbulences that have recently taken place in South-east Asia,” Chirac said while addressing the seminar. The French president is accompanied by a business delegation. Referring to Indo-French co-operation in various fields, the French president said in the insurance sector, that is still in a nascent stage in India, the partnership could be beneficial to both the countries.

He said Indian entrepreneurs must seize the opportunity of an open Europe which already is India’s largest economic partner. “A Europe which is strong, dynamic and will be with a single currency, is an asset for everyone,” he added.

“At the heart of new Europe, there is France, which wants to establish a new, more ambitious, broader economic relationship with India — France, whose entrepreneurs want to be your special partners in the great European market,” he said.

The creation of single currency Euro, in less than a year from now, will mean a Europe which will exercise, opposite the dollar, a monetary power commensurate with its economy, besides bringing an end to the “disturbing” competitive devaluations in Europe. The president was indicating the ongoing economic rivalry between Europe and America to gain economic supremacy after the downfall of Asian tigers and Japan. “Let us be bold. Let us be imaginative and let us broaden the scope of our cooperation to include third countries and large projects in which India and France can work together,” he said.