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Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed the concerns of French companies doing business in India. He said India must have “fair and visible” rules if it wanted more foreign investments.
“Majority of the (French) companies want to come to India. But, companies want rules to be fair and visible. I can see both visible and invisible barriers, here. Friendship has a meaning if it can translate into concrete steps,” Sarkozy said in his address to FICCI Wednesday.
Sarkozy, who was the President of France from May 2007- May 2012, said he is keen to see more French companies coming into India while he advised not to “underestimate the difficulties” faced by them while entering the Indian market.
‘Make with India’ Lauding Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, he said it should be “Make with India” hinting at greater collaborations and partnerships between the private sector of both sides.
He also urged both countries to forge a bilateral free trade agreement to boost the trade ties.
Talking on counter-terrorism, Sarkozy said Pakistan should bring the terrorists to book.
“France is by India’s side. India’s neighbours especially Pakistan must take action so that those who carried out the attacks are brought to the book. Pakistan needs to cooperate and the guilty should be arrested,” he added.
The former French President also batted for India’s membership at the UN Security Council and said he is “quite upset” to see that it is still not being considered as a meaningful member at the UN high chair.
“India is the most populated country in the world after China. It is the biggest democracy and how can we ignore that? How can we ignore one billion people? How can the UN work with no representation from India, Africa, South America, Japan? It has no meaning at all,” he said .
Sarkozy also batted for the pending $9-billion Rafale jet fighter deal, which India has committed to buy for the Indian Air Force that has got stuck over pricing issues.
Later in the day, Sarkozy met Modi, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
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