Sarkozy wants more Indians to learn French

BANGALORE - French President Nicolas Sarkozy Saturday hoped that more and more Indians would learn to speak French and know about his country.

“French companies in India employ nearly 200,000 people and this number is expected to continue to rise. But how many of them were trained in France and do they speak French,” Sarkozy said at a function hours after landing in this tech hub on a four-day official visit to India.

Addressing a gathering of about 500 top scientists, captains of Indian industry and students at the satellite centre of the state-run Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), the president observed that more Indian firms were beginning to invest in France.

“But how many of them have Indian executives who are familiar with France or French executives who know India,” the 55-year-old Sarkozy asked the audience that included a large official-cum-business delegation from France and representatives of French firms in India.

Referring to the growing ties between the two countries spanning diverse fields, including education, research, healthcare, space, defence and trade, Sarkozy said it was vital to enhance people-to-people exchanges to ensure that the relations between the two countries endured.