February 4, 2003	Tuesday	Zul Hijjah 2,1423

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NEW DELHI, Feb 3: French Prime Minister Jean-Peirre Raffarin is expected to press for a massive defence deal with India during a visit this week, officials and reports said on Monday.

They said Mr Raffarin starts his trip on Thursday in India’s high-tech hub of Bangalore before heading the next day to New Delhi, five years after a ground-breaking trip to India by French President Jacques Chirac.

Indian officials are privately rejoicing that Mr Raffarin will only visit India — and not, like most foreign dignitaries, make a stop in Pakistan.

The Hindu newspaper, which interviewed Mr Rafarrin in Paris, said on Monday that Mr Raffarin is heading an impressive delegation of over 170 persons that includes four crucial ministers — Finance, infrastructure and transport, new technologies and the minister of state for foreign affairs, over 20 top industrialists, MPs, Senators and cultural personalities.

In the interview covering a wide range of subjects, including divisions within the European Union over Iraq and France’s ties with Pakistan, Mr Raffarin said that fighting terrorism was “in Pakistan’s interest.” Pakistan had a duty to honour its commitments to fight terrorism, internal or external.

The Hindu said India is expected to finalize a contract for the purchase for six Scorpene SKK submarines from France, a contract valued at $1.8 billion.

It said India is also negotiating the purchase of some 60 Airbus aircraft for Indian Airlines and Air-India.

The French transport minister, Gilles de Robien, accompanying the prime minister on this trip, is expected to push hard for an early conclusion of the deal.

The French manufacturer of aircraft engines, Snecma, is signing an MoU with the state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics for the manufacture of PM333B engines under licence from the Snecma subsidiary, Turbomeka. The engine developed in India will be called Shakti.