20000129

French FM to

visit India

next month

PARIS: French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine will visit India on February 17 and 18, a diplomatic source said here on Thursday. Vedrine's trip will precede a state visit to France by Indian President K R Narayanan planned for mid-April, the source added.

India's national security adviser Brajesh Mishra will arrive in the French capital on February 7 for two days of talks on the "strategic dialogue" between the two countries.

France wants to double its trade with India, currently running at only two billion dollars/euros a year, by 2005.

It has also set itself the target of becoming one of the top five countries investing in India by 2005. France now ranks 10th, while it is India's 18th supplier and comes 10th in imports way behind the United States and Germany.ÑAFP