"France, which has great trust in India and its prime minister, has worked hard so that India can have access to civilian nuclear energy," said French President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency.

He made the comment at a press conference with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who arrived in France from the US, where he took India a major step closer to rejoining global nuclear commerce after 30 years in the cold.

Singh was to meet Tuesday in Paris with French political leaders and nuclear energy executives and was expected to sign a major nuclear trade pact.

French energy firm Areva said Monday it hopes to profit from the nuclear pact by supplying the Asian giant with two of the latest design of reactors.

A spokeswoman said Areva planned to ship two third-generation European Pressurised Reactors and a supply of nuclear fuel to India, which could lead to a bigger contract to supply a series of power plants.

On Saturday, the head of the Indian chamber of commerce said his country's nuclear market could be worth up 20 billion euros (29 billion dollars) to Areva and other French firms such as Alstom over the next 15 years.

India was banned from nuclear trade 30 years ago after its first nuclear test and refusal to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty, but the Vienna-based Nuclear Suppliers Group lifted the ban this month after lobbying by Washington.

The US House of Representatives passed a major atomic energy pact, which, if it gets Senate approval, will allow India to buy nuclear power plants, fuel and technology provided it allows UN inspections of some of its facilities.

New Delhi, which is critically short of energy to fuel its booming economy, is looking at investments worth billions of dollars in its power sector.

The world's second producer of nuclear energy after the United States, France is vying to lead a worldwide revival of the industry, fuelled by worries about global warming and rising energy prices.

Since Sarkozy's election last year, France has signed nuclear power deals with half a dozen developing nations in the Middle East and north Africa.

Sarkozy also said at Monday's summit in the southern French port of Marseille that European Union and Indian leaders had decided to "accelerate talks" aimed at reaching a free trade deal.

Singh, the leader of the world's largest democracy and one of its fastest growing economies, said he wanted the agreement signed by the end of 2009.

The European Union is India's largest commercial partner -- ahead of China -- with annual bilateral trade of around 60 billion euros, but India ranks only ninth behind South Korea in the EU's list of major trading partners.

Sarkozy said the global financial crisis also figured in the Marseille talks and that Singh had shared the French president's call for a global summit to establish "a new international financial system."

Climate change was also raised during the talks, with a joint statement saying afterwards the EU and India would work to reach an agreement on climate change by the end of 2009.

Brussels has long accused New Delhi of failing to make stringent efforts to reduce carbon emissions, while India has underlined its status as a developing country that cannot be expected to slow its modernisation.

Some EU lawmakers last week voiced concerns over rights abuses in India, in particular about attacks by extremist Hindus against Christians.

But European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, also speaking at Monday's press conference, said that "we appreciate the vigour and clarity of Mr Singh's comments, he has clearly condemned these attacks."

Hindu-Christian violence occurs periodically in India, where 2.3 percent of the country's population of more than 1.1 billion are Christians.

Hardline Hindus accuse missionaries of bribing poor tribal and low-caste Hindus to convert to Christianity by offering free education and health care.

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