French President arrives on four-day visit

French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived here today on the first leg of his four-day visit that will seek to strengthen bilateral ties in key areas of space and civil nuclear cooperation.

Sarkozy is accompanied by his singer-model wife Carla Bruni and a high-level delegation, including several key ministers of his cabinet and senior officials.

Sarkozy, Carla Bruni and the delegation later drove to the nearby Leela Palace Hotel for a brief stay.

The highlight of his visit to the city will be his address to scientists at the India's space research agency Isro.

During Sarkozy's visit to Isro, the focus is expected to be on Indo-French space collaborative projects, the Megha Tropiques and SARAL.

Megha-Tropiques (Megha meaning cloud in Sanskrit and Tropiques in French meaning Tropics), being jointly developed by ISRO and French National Space Agency (CNES), is expected to be launched by 2011 to study tropical climate.

Another ISRO-CNES mission to be launched next year is SARAL (Satellite for Argos and Altika) for seasonal forecast, oceanography and climate studies.

Sarkozy is likely to have a brief interaction with top officials of ISRO, who are expected to take him on a short visit around the Isro facility.

Carla Bruni is expected to spend time at the Hotel today.

The visiting French leader President will visit Agra, Delhi and Mumbai during his India visit.

A 50-member business delegation and a 100-member team of journalists from France have already arrived in India for the President's visit.