•Pranab Dal Samanta: Could you begin with an overview of the current political and financial situation as seen through French eyes?

The relationship between Europe and India reached a significant level at Marseille during the EU-India summit in September, especially because it was held in the midst of the worst part of the current financial crisis. It was important that Europe and India be able to send out a strong message of commitment to overcome the difficulties. And, it was during this summit that the question of a wider global summit on how to address the crisis was officially agreed upon.

President Sarkozy, as the president of the EU, strongly believed that we should gather not only G-8 countries but G-8 plus emerging economies so that a fair representation of the economic world of today be around the table to address this very difficult situation. It is his strong belief that you cannot address economic, financial or global matters today without the presence of emerging economies around the table. And we were very happy that the reaction of India was positive.

EU-India is about trade but it is about more than trade, trade is important because it creates jobs, it creates wealth and we are presently negotiating an important free trade agreement.

But one of the key messages from President Sarkozy and EU Commission President Barroso to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was that when you consider the values of Europe and the values of India you see the attachment of Europe and India to the rule of law, to multilateralism and to the idea that the world has to be led by principles.

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