India, France Sign Research Pacts

India and France have agreed to create joint chemistry laboratories for environmentally friendly "green chemistry" research into alternative drugs for treating cancer and neurological disorders. India's Council for Science and Industrial Research (CSIR) Director General Samir K. Bramhachari and France's National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) President Catherine Brechignac signed the agreements Friday in New Delhi. The CSIR is a publicly funded research and development organization in India. The Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad, one of the CSIR's laboratories, will implement the program in partnership with the CNRS laboratory for molecular chemistry and molecular photonics and the University of Rennes in France. The agreement came during a two-day state visit to India by France's president, Nicholas Sarkozy.