France-Pakistan cooperation: Expert favours civil-nuclear agreement

Dr Pascal Boniface says the South Asian nation has a pivotal role to play in region


Our Correspondent September 20, 2015
Dr Pascal Boniface

ISLAMABAD: Director of premier French think tank, the Institute for International and Strategic Affairs, Dr Pascal Boniface, said France should have a civil-nuclear accord with Pakistan on the pattern of the US-India nuclear deal.

The French expert made these remarks during a lecture on “France, Europe and changing global scenario” at the Pakistan-China Institute here on Sunday. The event was chaired by the Institute of Strategic Studies, Islamabad (ISSI) Chairperson Ambassador Masood Khan.

Boniface said Pakistan was a nuclear-armed nation of 200 million people and had a pivotal role to play in the strategically important part of the world.

Read: Report on weapons: ‘Pakistan outpacing India in nuclear race’

He also criticised the Iraq war saying it was “destabilising for the Arab World”. Boniface welcomed the Iran nuclear deal terming it “a rare defeat for the powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States”.

The lecture was attended by university professors and scholars of international relations, and diplomatic and security experts.

Senator Mushahid Hussain praised the French role in global affairs as well as the statesmanship of late President Charles de Gaulle.

Read: Can coercive diplomacy work?

The participants acknowledged that France was leading the world in civil nuclear energy technology for peaceful purposes.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21st,  2015.

COMMENTS (4)

Muhammad | 8 years ago | Reply @ajeet: One can well understand your point which aptly reflects your pain. One has to ignore past mistakes of a country, after all which country, big or small, has not been involved in proliferation of a sort. Pakistan has learnt the perils of proliferation that took place from its territory. Pakistan has to continue its research to modernise its nukes including the safety aspects and should have no issues with deals relating to range (does not need to go beyond Indian range) as long as it gets an appropriate return like a civil nuclear deal fo its energy purposes.
Rabia | 8 years ago | Reply That is a win-win situation for Pakistan keeping in eye the Indo-US nuclear deal. Now the bilateral relations between Pakistan and France are at a stage where both would be open to cooperation with each other in the field of civil nuclear programme! So it implies that Pakistan has been active in pursuing a robust and updated safety and regulatory system.
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