Marseille, France - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met top European Union officials in the French port of Marseille on Monday at a summit hosted by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The summit is set to call for EU-Indian cooperation on civilian nuclear research and development, a day before Sarkozy and Singh are due to discuss in Paris a deal on nuclear cooperation between their respective states, EU diplomats told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The trade in nuclear energy, which India is keen to develop to power its rapidly growing economy, could be worth up to 20 billion euros (29.2 billion dollars) over the next 15 years, Sarkozy told French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche on Sunday.

The summit is also expected to discuss climate change, the global financial crisis and issues of regional security such as Iran's nuclear programme, the conflict in Afghanistan and the situation of pro-democracy activists in Myanmar.

However, diplomats say that the summit is unlikely to bring about sharp changes of policy on any of the subjects.

In particular, the two sides are not expected to agree to a fixed global target for cuts in emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), and they are not likely to call on Iran to suspend uranium enrichment in line with UN resolutions, despite EU pressure to do so, diplomats said.

Ahead of the summit, India's ambassador to the EU and officials from the French government and the EU bureaucracy signed a deal on civil aviation, effectively legalizing
26 separate deals which India had held with individual EU member states.

The signature came just 24 hours after the European Commission, the EU's executive body, confirmed that it was to give India 470 million euros (686.5 million dollars) in aid money to reduce poverty over the next five years, with 180 million dollars dedicated to healthcare and primary education.

The aviation deal puts an end to nearly six years of legal uncertainty which began when the European Court in November 2002 decided that bilateral deals on civil aviation services between EU member states and third countries discriminated against airlines from other EU states.

It does not in itself change the number or frequency of flights between the EU and India, but EU officials say that they hope it will encourage more airlines to offer services between the continents.

They also expect it to pave the way for further EU-India agreements on issues such as security and air traffic control. (dpa)