New York, Sep 26 (UNI) French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday seemed to endorse Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Rafale deal and said it was a “government-to-government” pact and pointed out the pact was also crucial due to the strategic factors.
“This one is very important to me because this is a strategic.....That is my point. I just want to refer to what Prime Minister (Modi) has said, "Mr Macron told a press conference here on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly session.
“I will be very clear. It was a government-to-government discussion and I just want to refer to what Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi very clearly said a few days ago...I don’t have any other comment. I was not in charge (at that time) and I know that we have very clear rules,” he said in his first comment on the issue since his predecessor Francois Hollande has sparked off row by his comments on Reliance Defence and Dassault Aviation partnership.
The France and Indian governments had inked an 'inter-governmental agreement' in 2017 for procurement of 36 Rafale fighter jets at a cost of around Rs 58,000 crore.
The delivery of the jets is scheduled to begin from September, 2019.
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