French president departs from India

After attending the Republic Day parade here as chief guest, French President Francois Hollande departed from India on Tuesday evening.

"Thank you President@fhollande for visiting India & gracing our Republic Day celebrations. PM@narendramodi @Elysee," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted.

The parade down Rajpath on the occasion of the 67th Republic Day was marked by a contingent of the French 35th Infantry Regiment -- elements of which served in India in 1781-84 -- marching along with the Indian military. It was the first time a foreign army unit took part in the event.

During the course of Hollande's visit, 14 agreements were signed between India and France, including in the areas of science and technology, railways and space after bilateral discussions between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Hollande here on Monday.

Sixteen other agreements were signed between the two countries after an India-France Business Summit held in Chandigarh on Sunday.

Another highlight of the French president's visit was the laying of the foundation stone of the headquarter of the newly-launched International Solar Alliance (ISA) and the inauguration of its interim secretariat at Gurgaon near here.

France committed 300 million euros ($325 million) for the initial projects of the ISA.