Panaji, Sep 18: French Defence Minister Jean Yves Le Drian will be arriving in New Delhi on September 23 to ink the Inter-Government Agreement as regards Indo-French Rafale deal, to provide 36 combat Jets to the Indian Air Force.

Highly placed authoritative source from the Defence Ministry informed this newspaper that India is keen to conclude this aircraft deal, whose negotiations had been in progress since past 17 months, as it would fulfill the need of the Indian Air Force for intermediate medium-weight fighter jets.

Incidentally, the draft of the Inter-Government Agreement has been already finalised, and would now need the formal clearance of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

The CCS is chaired by the Prime Minister and comprises Minister of Defence, Minister of Finance, Minister of Home Affairs, and Minister of External Affairs.

Although the Defence Ministry source declined to give any specific date for signing of the agreement, it stated that the CCS could give a green signal to the Inter-Government Agreement anytime during the beginning of next week.

India is expected to sign a €7.87 billion that is $8.84 billion deal with the French government and Dassault Aviation for supply of 36 fighter jets. The price of the combat aircraft has been brought down from €11.6 billion to €7.87 billion, through protracted and tough negotiations thus saving crores of rupees from the Indian exchequer.

Rafales are twin-engine Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) manufactured by Dassault Aviation, a French firm.