French President Emmanuel Macron completed a four-day India visit. He was accompanied by his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron, besides senior ministers from his Cabinet.
After a 90-minute long meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron and delegation-level talks between the two sides, 14 agreements have been signed between India and France apart from business deals for 16 billion crores. This is followed by the joint press statement by the two leaders.
The key deals that were signed:
- Two important agreements were signed among many others – one agreement is to recognize each other’s educational qualifications, inviting students to pursue an education in France and increase the number of French students coming to India. The second is migration and mobility partnership.
- India and France also got an agreement between NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) and EDF (of France) to start building world’s largest nuclear power plant in Jaitapur which sports a mega capacity of 9.6 Gigawatts.
- The two countries signed an accord to step up military cooperation in the Indian Ocean with focus on renewable energy and stepping cooperation in trade apart from discussions on Rafael deal.
- Agreement to share intelligence as well as military bases. Different divisions of all armed forces will cooperate and collaborate.
- Operational alliance on cyber warfare and counter-terrorism was also discussed.
- The two sides also signed an agreement on co-development of a full-fledged satellite constellation in the maritime domain. The Indo-French cooperation in the area of space is more than five-decades-old.
- Railways, environment, space security are just some of many areas of deep cooperation which was addressed.
- After the delegation-level talks with PM Modi, President Macron took part in a Town Hall and had an interactive session, in which nearly 300 students from different institutions participated.
- On the same day, he also took part in a Knowledge Summit which was attended by more than 200 academicians from both sides.
- On March 11, Mr Macron co-chaired the International Solar Alliance (ISA) Summit, an initiative mooted by France and India. The ISA Summit, which was attended by several heads of the states and governments, focused on concrete projects.
- The President also visited the monument of love, the Taj Mahal with his wife and to Varanasi on the banks of the river Ganges in UP, where they inaugurated a solar plant in Mirzapur.
- France is mooted as the entry point to Europe. President Marron wants to be India’s best partner in Europe.
Conclusion:
The outcome of President Macron’s visit achieved 3 main objectives – One is to begin a new era in India-France ties and boost its partnership and strategic ties to a new level in various sectors.
Second, to battle climate change and take forward the wonderful initiative of the International Solar Alliance. This shows the commitment to the Paris Climate deal and promotes renewable sources of energy. Third, to boost people-to-people ties.
It is not a coincidence that the echo of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity is also recorded in the Constitution of India, not only in France. The societies of our two countries are standing on the foundation of these values.
