France Foreign Minister to embark on two-day visit to India tomorrow

French Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Development, Jean-Yves Le Drian, will embark his official journey to India on Saturday, November 17.

The French Minister will undertake an official visit to India, on November 17 and 18, 2017.

On Friday, Minister Le Drian will call on for wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of the State visit of President Emmanuel Macron. He will hold political meetings with several Indian dignitaries, including Minister of External Affairs Smt Sushma Swaraj, Minister of Finance Arun Jaitley and Minister of State (IC) for Power and New and Renewable Energy Shri Raj Kumar Singh. He will also meet Shri Ajit Doval, National Security Adviser to Prime Minister.

Minister Le Drian's day one visit will be to strengthen various aspects of France's bilateral cooperation with India, its foremost Asian strategic partner: security, economy, sustainable urban development and renewable energy, education and research, people-to- people ties and cultural affairs.

On the second day of his visit, Minister Le Drian will officially launch the third edition of the Indo-French platform "Bonjour India". Jean-Yves Le Drian will also unveil "The Experience": an immersive and interactive multimedia journey to the heart of the Indo-French relationship.

The Grand Opening of Bonjour India will take place at Amber Fort, Jaipur, on Saturday evening. The event will be attended by Minister Le Drian, Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, which will feature a monumental video creation by French artist Xavier de Richemont, entitled "Barghal".

Bonjour India is a three-month Indo-French collaborative platform focused on innovation, creativity, and partnership, which will be presented in more than 300 events in 33 cities across India.