NEW DELHI: India and France will look to additional improve their defence, commerce and expertise ties as PM Narendra Modi hosts French President Emmanuel Macron for a bilateral assembly in Mumbai on Tuesday. Throughout his three-day go to to India, Macron may even take part within the AI summit in Delhi on Thursday.Official sources stated near a dozen agreements/MoUs are more likely to be signed after the bilateral assembly in areas like defence, commerce, skilling, well being, and provide chains. In Mumbai, the leaders will collectively inaugurate the India-France Yr of Innovation which can be celebrated by way of 2026 in each nations, in keeping with the ministry of exterior affairs. The India-France Yr of Innovation and Cultural Commemoration can be held on the Gateway of India on Tuesday night.The Indian govt had final week authorised a proposal to acquire 114 Rafale fighter jets underneath a govt-to-govt framework from France. India and France may even maintain on Tuesday the sixth Annual Defence Dialogue in Bengaluru that’s anticipated to see the renewal of their defence cooperation settlement for an additional 10 years. Discussions are additionally more likely to give attention to higher cooperation involving air and maritime belongings, consistent with the formidable Defence Industrial Roadmap agreed to in 2024.Each leaders may even look to debate regional and international points, together with the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the scenario in Gaza and the Indo-Pacific area the place India sees France as an indispensable associate. With uncertainty looming over Quad, the partnership with France, a resident energy within the Indian Ocean, has turn into much more important for India.In accordance with Indian authorities, each leaders will maintain discussions on strengthening bilateral cooperation throughout a large spectrum of areas as enshrined within the Horizon 2047 Roadmap that was adopted three years in the past, setting the course for bilateral cooperation over the subsequent 25 years. Macron’s participation within the AI summit in India follows his co-chairing with Modi the identical summit in France final 12 months.Each leaders had then burdened their frequent dedication to concrete actions to make sure that the worldwide AI sector can drive social, financial and environmental outcomes in public curiosity. They’re additionally anticipated to evaluation progress on the India-France Roadmap on AI, rooted within the “philosophical convergence” of their approaches specializing in the event of secure, open, safe and reliable synthetic intelligence. The roadmap had been launched final 12 months throughout Modi’s go to to France.
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