India and France undertook on 6 May to place a deadline on negotiations to conclude the purchase of 36 Dassault Rafale fighters for the Indian Air Force (IAF). "The two sides decided to set up teams to work out the details in a time-bound manner," a joint statement declared in New Delhi following a meeting between visiting French defence minister Jean-Yves Drian and his Indian counterpart, Manohar Parrikar. "The two defence ministers discussed modalities in order to reach an early conclusion of an Inter-Governmental Agreement" on the Rafale purchase, it added.
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