The much-awaited deal to buy the 36 French Rafale fighter jets may get concluded soon, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, said on Thursday.

This is even as the government is tight-lipped about the delay on the deal that was agreed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to France last year.

“We intend to close it quite soon. But, we can’t say negotiations are over until we sign the agreement or it is cleared by the Cabinet,” Parrikar told reporters on the sidelines of the Naval Commanders’ Conference here Thursday.

A couple of days ago the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had announced in its Twitter handle that the government has clinched the deal for $8.8 billion instead of the original price of $12 billion.

In January this year, India had signed a memorandum of understanding with the French government for buying 36 aircraft off the shelf.

The deal was initiated by the previous UPA government when India had decided to buy 126 jets for the Indian Air Force, which is in desperate need of modern fighter jets.

China visit On his recent five-day visit to China, Parrikar said there is now going to be a regular dialogue between both sides – both at the political as well as the military levels to avoid any “unwanted and undesirable” incidents concerning border incursions.

“I have expressed very clearly to them that there cannot be differentiation in terrorists. All terrorists are the same and they should be dealt with the same principle, including the issue they had obstructed at the UN. They should also deal with it in the same manner,” he said.

Parrikar also added that an “improved” version of the India-China MoU on defence is going to be finalised soon. This MoU was signed in May 2006.

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