Rafale deal: Sushma to hold talks with French minister

A day after the Supreme Court dismissed pleas for probe into India-France Rafale fighter jet deal, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will on Saturday host French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who had played a key role in finalising the 2016 agreement.

Le Drian is currently on a tour to India. He was in Mumbai on Thursday and had a meeting with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

He will meet his counterpart Swaraj in New Delhi on Friday and discuss “the broad gamut of the multi-faceted India-France bilateral relations and exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest”, Raveesh Kumar, spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said.

Le Drian earlier held the defence portfolio in French Government. He and his then counterpart Manohar Parrikar, who was Defence Minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Government, signed on September 23, 2016, the intergovernmental agreement for the acquisition of 36 Rafale fighter jets for Indian Army from the Dassault Aviation of France.