New Delhi, Sep 1 (IANS) Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee leaves Saturday for a five-day visit of France and Germany during which he is likely to sign a pact with Berlin to improve military cooperation and boost defence ties with Paris.

Senior officials of the ministries of defence and external affairs, the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and the armed forces will accompany the minister, it was announced here Friday.

The delegation includes S. Banerjee, director general (acquisition) in the defence ministry, Lt. Gen. H.S. Lidder, chief of Integrated Defence Staff, Air Marshal F.H. Major, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Air Command, Prahlada (one name), DRDO's chief controller (R&D), Sujata Singh, joint secretary in the external affairs ministry, and Gautam Chatterjee, joint secretary in the defence ministry.

"Mukherjee is visiting Germany with the aim of enhancing defence cooperation between the two countries which at present is not so wide," a defence ministry spokesman said Friday.

While India wants to enhance military cooperation with Germany in technology and training, both countries are keen to stage joint naval exercises and increase interaction between their armed forces, the spokesman added.

During his stay in Grmany Sep 5-7, Mukherjee will hold talks with his counterpart Franz Josef Jung and Minister for Economics and Technology Michael Gloss. He will also meet captains of the German defence industry.

The minister will pay homage at the Zehrensdorf Indian Cemetery where lie the graves of 206 Indian soldiers who died as prisoners during the First World War. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission has rebuilt the cemetery.

Mukherjee's visit to France is "highly significant as India is likely to achieve better results in the field of defence cooperation", the spokesman said.

"The defence relationship between India and France has been fairly robust in supply and production. The India-France Defence MOU (memorandum of understanding) of 1982 and the Indo-French High Committee of 1998 are the landmarks in (their) cooperation, which has also increased in the field of joint exercises, security dialogue and training," the spokesman added.

During his visit to France Sep 3-5, Mukherjee will meet his counterpart Michele Aliotte-Marie and visit the Centre for Planning and Operations Management (CPCO) and the Command of Air Defence and Air Operations (CDAOA) at Taverny.

CPCO is the joint staff operations centre of the French defence forces. It deals with international operations, plans and execution at the Joint Staff level. The delegation will be given an overview of all types of operations being undertaken by the French defence forces worldwide.

Mukherjee will take part in an interactive roundtable with CEOs of French defence industries.

After his arrival in Paris Sunday, Mukherjee will go to Neuve Chapelle to pay homage at the Indian Soldiers' Memorial. This was built to honour the Indian Army that fought in France and Belgium during the First and Second World Wars and in remembrance of those servicemen who have no known graves.