French Foreign Minister to visit India later this month

Seeking to engage with the new government, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius will arrive in India at the end of this month and is expected to discuss issues such as the multi-billion dollar Rafale combat aircraft deal.
Around the same time, a French counter-terrorism team will hold discussions with Indian officials against the backdrop of a terror attack on Indian consulate in Herat in Afghanistan and an attack in Brussels by a Frenchman, French Ambassador to India Francois Richier said here.
"Our Foreign Minister is scheduled to arrive in India by June-end and he will discuss a range of issues with the government here which may include defence issues," he said when asked if any senior French government official would visit India in near future to discuss the Rafale deal.

He was briefing reporters on the Indo-French 'Garuda-5' joint air force exercise going on in Jodhpur where four Rafale jets are also participating.
India and France have been discussing the multi-billion dollar deal to supply 126 Rafale fighter aircraft to the Indian Air Force.
On the status of the deal, he said India and French firm Dassault Aviation have made "significant progress" on the deal in the recent times and some of the critical issues such as the work-share between Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) and Dassault Aviation have been completed.
Richier, however, said the negotiations are "not completed" and the two sides were working very hard in this direction.

India selected French Dassault Aviation to supply its Rafale aircraft two years ago but the deal is still under discussion.