Cold War politics was an inhibiting factor in the development of India’s trade and investment ties with the West. Since its ending, India’s integration into the global economic system has become pronounced. With this has come the deepening of bilateral ties with the United States and the leading powers of Europe, including France, whose recently-elected Socialist President Francois Hollande engaged in important conversations with the Indian leadership in New Delhi on Thursday and Friday.
But it is worth recalling at this distance that it was Prime Minister Indira Gandhi who, well before the end of the Soviet era, had sought to finetune India’s engagement with the West even as the relationship with Moscow remained vibrant, significant and strong. She appeared keen to diversify India’s contacts in several key areas, both economic and security-related. The country of her choice was France — a traditional and sturdy European power that did not historically kowtow to Washington, with which relations had been nettlesome.
To this day India’s relationship with France appears to enjoy greater degrees of ideological and political freedom than its ties with other leading democratic nations. It is almost free of historical baggage, and the commonalities are belief in plurality, democratic freedoms, and the written-down secular character of the state. Besides, along with Germany, France lies at the heart of European economic and military prowess. This is sufficient to go on. And yet, the economic and security relationship with France has not grown as rapidly as it could have. A part of the reason is the discovery in the post-Soviet period by India of the multi-faceted relationship with the giant of international life — the United States. In more recent times, Asean and East Asia (including China) have emerged as economic magnets.
Nevertheless, the French connection is well worth nurturing, and both sides seem to agree. President Hollande has made India his first stop in Asia. For him two important issues at stake are the supply of six French civilian nuclear reactors and completing the negotiations for the procurement of 126 French medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) Rafale. Both will boost the French economy at a critical time for European economic life. President Hollande has significantly said here that his country will not be inhibited by India’s supplier-liability regime that has emerged as a deterrent for providers of American — and to an extent even Russian — civilian nuclear reactors. The claims of Rafale also appear well-grounded although a final determination from the Indian side is yet to be made. In the past two decades, the eagerness of many to forge closer ties with India is on account of our stepped-up economic performance. This must not be lost sight of.