New Delhi:
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had the French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni, over for dinner on Sunday.
On the guest list were Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Pranab Mukherjee, SM Krishna, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, Speaker Meira Kumar, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao and the National Security Advisor, Shiv Shankar Menon.
Prime Minister Singh and President Sarkozy met for 30 minutes before dinner. NDTV has learnt that a preliminary deal with the French company Areva is likely to be signed during this visit, and the overall agreement will be worked out in 6 months.
(Read: Nuclear agreement with Areva likely to be signed)During the meeting, the French leader is understood to have raised the issue relating to the civil nuclear liability legislation to which he was told that the concerns, if any, will be addressed.
Apart from civil nuclear cooperation, the two leaders are likely to discuss a host of issues, including terrorism, during their official talks on Monday.
France is also likely to back India's membership to the Nuclear Supplier group (NSG) formally, in a joint statement expected to be issued on Monday.
Sarkozy's support to India for the NSG entry comes nearly a month after US President Barack Obama supported New Delhi's full membership in multilateral groupings like the NSG, the Missile Technology Control Regime (MCTR), the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement.
"Nuclear energy will now be the focus of Indo french cooperation,"said President Sarkozy in his speech on Saturday at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) at Bangalore.
(Watch: President Sarkozy at ISRO)But President Sarkozy has now said that India should comply with international conventions, which put the responsibility heavily on the operator. His comment that he hopes that India's Nuclear Liability Bill will follow the Vienna convention in the event of a nuclear incident may become a speed breaker in negotiations.
The Vienna convention says the liability of the operator is absolute, irrespective of fault. The operators of the reactors in this case would be the government-run Nuclear Power Corporation. But India's Nuclear Liability bill says foreign suppliers could also be liable. In this case, it is Areva, the company in which the French Government holds a majority stake.
Areva has been cautious so far and haven't quite stated their position clearly. "We will comply. Issues are there but we will comply," says Anne Lauvergeon, Areva's CEO.
(Watch: Exclusive look at Areva's reactors)While there have been protests by local residents and activists against the proposed 10,000 mega-watt plant at Jaitapur in Maharashtra, the French haven't turned the issue of the foreign supplier's liability into a dispute.
(Watch: Dissent against the Jaitapur project)The French are the first India is trying to sign a deal with, for the supply of nuclear reactors. They are in advanced stages of negotiations, and the sources have told NDTV its at a point of no return.
Over the next 24 hours, talks between the Indian and French leaders will be watched closely. How the details will be hammered out and which way will the deal go, will indicate whether India is able to get suppliers to come around, without making any amendments to the Nuclear Liability Bill.