BRITAIN AND FRANCE HAVE SIGNED new defence and security treaties which will see the two countries conduct joint nuclear testing.

A statement from No 10 Downing Street said that British prime minister David Cameron said the agreement would make Britain safer in an “age of uncertainty”.

French president Nicolas Sarkozy said the treaties showed “a level of trust and confidence between our two nations which is unequalled in history”.

The two leaders said that their countries would remain sovereign with the ability to deploy forces independently. Under the treaty, aircraft carriers will be adapted to enable both Britain and France to use them.

The BBC reports that new centres will be set up in the UK and France to develop nuclear testing technology. Cameron said that cooperating on nuclear weapons would save millions of pounds.

Further savings are expected to be made by choosing a “single European prime contractor” for British and French defence forces, according to the treaty.

The testing can be carried out without exploding the devices. The French facility will be built at Valduc in eastern France and is expected to begin operating in 2012, according to Al Jazeera. The British centre will be built in Aldermaston, southern England.

A declaration on illegal immigration released by the summit said both countries would continue to fight “against illegal migration and against the traffickers who exploit migrants and organise the trade in human beings”.