JOC Staff | Feb 19, 2013 12:59PM EST
France and India have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen technical cooperation in the railways sector.
The agreement was signed by Shri Vinay Mittal, chairman of India’s Ministry of Railways board, and G. Pepy, chairman and CEO of France’s Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer Francais, in the presence of Francois Hollande, the president of France.
India’s Ministry of Railways, the government of India, SNCF and the French National Railways have agreed to cooperate on high speed and semi-high speed rail, station renovation and operations, modernization of current operations and infrastructure and suburban trains.
The agreement is valid for five years and is extendable by one year with mutual consent.
The two nations — represented by Shri Anand Sharma, India’s Union Minister for Commerce, Industry & Textiles, and Nicole Bricq, French Minister for External Trade — will also meet in March 2013 for another round of negotiations regarding a broad-based India-European Union trade and investment agreement, to promote bilateral trade.