Chirac's Trip To India (Bloomberg)
Feb. 16 (Bloomberg) -- French President Jacques Chirac,
visiting New Delhi next week, may find his call for increased trade
overshadowed by the uproar over Indian businessman Lakshmi Mittal's
attempt to take over a European steel maker.
Chirac is seeking to sell more French goods to the world's
second most populous nation while European governments try to repel
the $23.7 billion hostile bid by Mittal Steel Co. for Luxembourg-
based Arcelor SA.
``If the bid was to be vetoed politically, then the question
would be: why should India buy things from France?'' said B.G.
Verghese, an analyst at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi
in an interview Feb. 9.
India offers just what France needs: A fast-growing market
hungry for airplanes, power plants, and highways. The French trade
deficit ballooned to a record last year as demand slumped in
Europe, destination for 65 percent of French overseas sales. India
buys less than 0.5 percent of French exports.
``India is an enormous country with great growth potential: we
have to go there,'' said Alexandre Bourgeois, an economist at
Natexis Banques Populaires in Paris in an interview Feb. 9. ``Until
now, India has been a rather weak trade partner for France, where
exports are very focused on the euro zone and growth is much
weaker. It makes sense to go for growth.''
Chirac's last visit to India was in 1998. The five-day trip to
Asia starting tomorrow and encompassing stops in Bangkok and New
Delhi will be his first long-haul journey since the 73-year-old
president was hospitalized in September with a hematoma. He'll be
accompanied by around 30 French executives.
Contrasting Growth
Also on the agenda will be World Trade Organization disputes
over reducing farm subsidies, tariffs and foreign investment
restrictions. Developing nations led by India and Brazil are
demanding the European Union and U.S. cut farm subsidies before
they offer easier access to their industrial markets. France is the
EU's largest agricultural producer.
India's central bank said Jan. 25 that growth in the year
ending March 31 may reach 8 percent. The French economy expanded
1.4 percent in 2005, the national statistics agency Insee said Feb.
10.
As the Indian economy grows, so does its appetite for imports.
In the first six months of 2005, India bought 700 million euros
($840 million) of French goods, up 28.9 percent from a year
earlier.
Mittal's bid for Arcelor, created in 2002, when France's
Usinor SA acquired Arbed SA of Luxembourg and Aceralia Corporacion
Siderurgica SA of Spain, is worth 28 times more these purchases and
prompted an outcry among French politicians and business leaders.
Indian Trade Minister Kamal Nath said Feb. 1 he was concerned about
the French reaction.
`Values, Culture'
Arcelor's French Chief Executive Officer Guy Dolle likened the
company owned by Mittal, who rented three French palaces including
Versailles for the $69 million wedding of his daughter Vanisha in
2004, to ``eau de Cologne'' in comparison to the ``perfume''
produced by Arcelor. Mittal is known for producing basic steel
while Arcelor has focused on higher-end products.
Dolle said Arcelor doesn't share the ``values'' and
``culture'' of Mittal Steel, whose headquarters are in the Dutch
city of Rotterdam.
Luxembourg introduced a takeover law Feb. 7 that would help
the company repel the Mittal bid. French Finance Minister Thierry
Breton, who'll accompany Chirac to India, has retreated from
initial criticism of the proposal, which he first called ``badly
prepared.'' In an interview Feb. 7, he said that ``shareholders
must decide.'' French Industry Minister Francois Loos on Feb. 1
said France ``opposed'' the takeover.
`Totally Wrong'
French Trade Minister Christine Lagarde said the European
opposition to the bid was being misinterpreted.
``The jumble that's being made of India against France is
totally wrong,'' she said in an interview. ``If a misunderstanding
remains, during the trip during which I am accompanying the
president, I'll seek to dissipate it.''
France isn't the only country competing for India's attention.
Chirac is visiting before U.S. President George W. Bush, who's
scheduled to arrive in India in the first week of March, India's
Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran says.
``That Chirac's visit comes before Bush's provides France with
a chance to preempt the U.S. on business deals,'' said N. Bhaskara
Rao, chairman of the Centre for Media Studies, a New Delhi-based
policy research group.
Chirac and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh pledged Sept.
12 to double trade between their two countries in five years. That
was just days after Indian Airlines Ltd. won government approval to
buy 43 planes from Airbus SAS, based in Toulouse in southern
France, for $2.2 billion.
Airbus, which is competing for Indian orders with Boeing Co.,
said a year ago India may buy up to 400 planes by 2019 as economic
growth stokes demand for air travel.
Alstom, Thales
Chirac and Singh last year promised more cooperation in
energy, transport and defense, leading to possible contracts for
French engineering company Alstom SA and Thales SA, Europe's
largest defense-electronics company.
India needs to raise its electricity generating capacity by
nearly 60 percent by 2010 to 200,000 megawatts to meet demand.
India will award contracts for building five power plants, each
with the capacity to generate 4,000 megawatts of electricity, by
Dec. 31, Power Secretary R.V. Shahi said Jan. 27.
Alstom, based in Paris, which builds power stations that
generate a fifth of the world's electricity, said July 8 it will
expand its Indian operations by setting up a research center there.
`Key Country'
``India is a key country for us,'' said Severine Gagneraud, a
spokeswoman for Alstom Jan. 13. The company booked 500 million
euros in orders from India in its latest fiscal year, mostly in
power stations and related equipment, she said.
Paris-based Areva SA, the world's biggest maker of nuclear
reactors, is currently prevented from selling plants to India
because the country hasn't signed the nuclear non-proliferation
treaty.
Singh said last year that India would be willing to separate
its military and civil nuclear facilities and impose safeguards
required by the International Atomic Energy Agency, moves intended
to ease the way for western nations to drop bans on nuclear-
technology exports to the country.
--With reporting by Nicolas Johnson and Sandrine Rastello in Paris
and Cherian Thomas in New Delhi. Editor: Hertling (egb).
Unter anderem ist der Algerische Transportminister seit gestern , bis morgen zu Besuch in Frankreich mit seiner Delegation , unteranderm steht eine Besichtigung der Alstom Werke auf dem Programm .
Der PDG der Algerischen SNTF ( Bahn )ist auch in der Delegation . Anscheinend wollen die Algerier in Algier ein Metro bauen . |
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