French President Macron to arrive in India for jont inauguration of ISA Summit

French President Emmanuel Macron will embark on a four-day visit to India from March 9 to 12. The visit is aimed at strengthening bilateral economic, political and strategic engagement.

Strengthening an age old bond, French President Emmanuel Macron will be a state visit to India.

The French president’s spouse will also accompany him. During the visit, Prime Minister Modi and the French President will also co-chair the Founding Conference of the International Solar Alliance, that will take place on March 11.

PM Modi visited France in June 2017, immediately after President Macron was elected President. 39-year-old Macron is the youngest president of France.

Both the countries have enhanced and ongoing cooperation in the defence, maritime, space, security, and energy-related sectors, and are increasingly working together on all issues of concern including terrorism, climate change.

India-France strategic partnership, established in 1998, is one of the most important and comprehensive bilateral engagements. It is marked by intense and frequent high level exchanges and deep political understanding. The visit by french president provides another opportunity to increase the engagements.

The last visit of the French President to India took place in January, 2016, when the French President was the Chief Guest at the Republic Day celebrations.

The bilateral trade between India and France for the period April 2016 to March 2017 reached US$ 10.95 billion. France is the 9th largest foreign investor in India with a cumulative investment of US$ 6.09 billion from April 2000 to October 2017.

Close to 1000 French companies are present in India. About 120 Indian companies have invested in excess of Euro 1 billion in France and employ close to 7,000 people. The Indian community, including NRIs in mainland France number around 1.1 lakh people; largely originating from French enclaves of Puducherry, Karaikal, Yanam, Mahe and Chandernagore.