France’s President Emmanuel Macron will be India’s chief guest for its 2024 Republic Day celebrations, the Elysee French presidential palace said.
Macron Visit In Bharat
The Ministry of External Affairs also confirmed the same in a statement saying: “At the invitation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of France, will be visiting India as the Chief Guest for the 75th Republic Day celebrations.” To mark the 25th anniversary of the Indo-French partnership, both countries agree to adopt a roadmap to set the course for the bilateral relationship up to 2047, which will celebrate the centenary of India’s independence, the centenary of the diplomatic relations between the two countries and 50 years of the strategic partnership.
“The two leaders recalled six decades of India-France Space cooperation and reviewed the progress since holding of the first Strategic Space Dialogue in June 2023.
Defence Partnerships
Starting with the Rafale deal to the latest acquisition of 26 of the aircraft’s marine version, the French have been willing to give the Indians some of their best defence systems. Meanwhile, technology transfers by France have already helped India construct six Scorpene-class submarines with another three now being procured to boost the navy’s falling numbers. France had been non-problematic about the “Quad-Plus” coalitions, first floated in 2020, (but were dropped after US-France rift over the AUKUS agreement).
The Defence Acquisition Council, headed by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, on July 13 accorded the approval for the purchase of 26 Rafale-M (naval variant) and the three-Scorpene submarine from France.
