French Transport Minister to hold talks with Prabhu, Gajapati Raju

Accompanied by senior representatives from Thales, Alstom and other companies, French Transport Minister Alain Vidalies arrives on a three-day visit from Tuesday during which he will meet with Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu and Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapati Raju for talks on strengthening Indo-French cooperation.

Vidalies will also hold talks with M. Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, and Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways and Shipping. He will also meet Mangu Singh, Director - Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, and take a ride on the Delhi metro, a statement from the French embassy here said.

On Wednesday, Vidalies will participate in an Indo-French Workshop on Semi-high-speed Trains with the Indian Railways at Rail Bhavan. He will meet Prabhu for a bilateral meeting, which will be followed by a joint statement on bilateral cooperation on railways, including semi-high-speed and high-speed trains, modernization of the railway network, renovation of stations and railway safety and security.

On Thursday, Raju and Vidalies will sign a cooperation agreement for the exchange of expertise and technical trainings between Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the French Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGAC), in the presence of Guruprasad Mohapatra, Chairperson - AAI.

Vidalies will be accompanied by high-level representatives from French companies specializing in areas relevant to the respective Indian ministries.

The companies that will be present include: Safran, Thales, Airbus Helicopters, Egis and Air France in the Aerospace field, SNCF, Geismar, Alstom, Thales, Railtech, Systra, Egis, Vossloh, Dassault-Systemes, Faiveley, Keolis, Tractebel in railways, CMA-CGM, Louis-Dreyfus-Armateurs, Bollore, Egis and Systra in the field of ports and infrastructure.

Vidalies will also be given a guided tour of Delhi airport with GMR. He will also visit the newly inaugurated Airbus flight simulator and pilot training centre in Delhi, an investment contributing to the Skill India programme, the statement said.

--IANS

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