India and France on February 14, concluded negotiations on the short-range surface-to-air missile nearly worth $6 billion during the talks between French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who also said talks on $10-billion deal for Rafale medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) are “progressing well”.

Observing that India is Hollande’s first Asian destination for a bilateral trip, Singh said this demonstratesthe importance of this relationship between the two countries.

“President Hollande and I exchanged views on a number of bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of common interest. We reviewed progress on the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project and reiterated our commitment to its early implementation as soon as the commercial and technical negotiations, which have made good progress, are completed,” Dr Singh said at a joint press event after the talks.

Expressing satisfaction with the progress in defence cooperation, Dr Singh said, “Discussions on the MMRCA contract are progressing well. We have also concluded negotiations on the short-range surfaceto-air missile, which, once approved by the government, will be co-developed and co-produced in India,” while noting that the defence ties were poised to reach a qualitatively new level.

The Rs. 30,000-crore worth of SR-SAM project is a codevelopment joint venture between India and France and would be developed by MBDA of France and DRDO from the Indian side. The surface-to-air missile defence system would be deployed by the IAF and the Navy.