This was decided at a meeting between Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and French Defence Minister Alain Richard. Both sides agreed to step up cooperation between armed forces on exchange programmes.

India and France have already agreed that armament, technological and industrial cooperation will based upon the latest scientific and other technologies and both will initiate action to encourage tie-ups between Indian and French companies.

During the meeting which lasted about 30 minutes, Vajpayee and Richard exchanged views on a wide spectrum of defence cooperation. France has been an important source for India's defence procurements.

While France has several items in which Indian armed forces are interested, India has conveyed to the French side that long-term cooperation in various potential areas is possible.

In 1982, bothsides signed a Memorandum of Understanding relating to cooperation in procurement, licence production and transfer of technology on a range of equipment of interest to the Indian Army.

After the visit of French President Jacques Chirac to India in January this year, the French Chief of Defence Staff paid an official visit to New Delhi in February. As part of the high-level contacts, the Indian Army chief visited France last year.

In May this year, a delegation led by the Defence Secretary accompanied by vice-chiefs of the three services visited France for the first meeting of the newly set up Indo-French high committee on defence cooperation.

At present, India has a fleet of French-built Mirage-2000 fighter jets and France is keen to sell its `Alpha' advanced jet trainer aircraft to the Indian Air Force.

Officials said Indo-French ties have been multi-faceted in nature, involving close cooperation in political, commercial and technological fields. In the past, however, interaction was focussed oncommercial and technological elements.

Politically, France shares India's view on the need to see the emergence of a truly multi-polar international system and in recent months has been vociferously campaigning against what it sees as the domination of the US.

For India, it is important to develop closer ties with France, which is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and is at the forefront of the European Union, which is rapidly emerging as one of the major influencing factors in the international system.

President Chirac has strongly reiterated France's commitment to developing stable long-term relations with India and agreed to have a strategic dialogue with New Delhi encompassing the entire gamut of bilateral issues.

Economically and commercially, France remains one of the two main driving forces in the EU, which is India's largest trading partner, and a source of investment, technology and aid.