Visit of Mr Thierry Mariani, French Minister for Transport, 24 to 27 February 2012

Mr Thierry Mariani, Hon’ble Minister for Transport, French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing, was ona three-day visit to India from 24 to 27 February 2012. The purpose of Mr Mariani’s visit was to strengthen the bilateral partnership between India and France in the areas of public transport, civil aviation and urban publicservices.

In the course of his stay in Delhi, he held meetings with Shri Dinesh Trivedi, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, Shri Kamal Nath, Hon’ble Minister of Urban Development, and Shri Ajit Singh, Hon’ble Minister of Civil Aviation. Mr Mariani also met French industrialists.

Apart from Delhi, Mr Thierry Mariani also travelled to Chennai. He met French industrialists, and visited the premises of the Chennai metro.

To read Mr Mariani’s biodata, please click here.

To read Mr Mariani’s points at the press conference, click here
 
France and India collaborate, among others, in the sector of public transport for the development of urban commute systems (trains and metros) and the Indian railway network. Several French companies are involved as general or technical consultants in various metro rail network projects, or are suppliers for equipment, signalling systems, telecommunications and ticketing.
 
Further, French products account for one-third of India’s imports in the aviation sector. This includes supplying aircraft, aircraft engines, and maintenance services. French and Indian companies are in partnerships for the production of aircraft, manufacture of parts and their maintenance. Indo-French collaboration is also reflected in 100% Indian subsidiaries of French companies, as well as Research and Development partnerships. An Indo-French technical cooperation, initiated in 2010, has already resulted in three MoUs for civil aviation studies, pilot training, MRO technicians, and diverse areas of airport management.