India/EU

Trade to double by 2012, summit declares

by Rosslyn Hyams

Article published on the 2008-09-29 Latest update 2008-09-30 07:21 TU

Singh (L) and Sarkozy
(Photo: Reuters)

European Union and Indian leaders agreed to nearly double trade at the ninth summit between the continent and the sub-continent in Marseilles on Monday. They agreed to work to forge a free trade agreement by the end of 2009. On Tuesday French President Nicolas Sarkozy is likely to try and persuade India's Manmohan Singh to reach a deal on nuclear power after Delhi's recent agreement with Washington.

After the Marseille summit Sarkozy, Singh and European Commission President José Manuel Barroso all agreed to work to turn the 55 billion euros of annual trade between the partners into 100 billion euros-worth by 2012.

The EU is Inida's largest trading partner, while India is the EU's ninth largest.

Discussions on a free trade agreement continue, with Delhi wary of opening its markets too far too fast, but the meeting set a target of the end of 2009 for agreement to be reached.

French energy company Areva announced on Monday that it hopes to provide two of the latest design of reactors to India if an expected Franco-Indian nuclear pcat is signed.

On Saturday, the head of the Indian Chamber of Commerce said that his country's nuclear market could be worth up to 20 billion euros to French firms over th next 15 years.

Singh meets Sarkozy at the Elysée presidential palace on Tuesday for bilateral talks.

The nuclear accord will be on the table and Singh is expected to hold talks with energy  company executives.