PM to visit France; defence, nuclear energy, counter-terrorism to top talks agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will pay a two-day state visit to France from August 22 during which he will hold talks with French President Emmanuel Macron to strengthen strategic ties in key sectors such as defence, nuclear energy, maritime cooperation and counter-terrorism.

From France, the prime minister will proceed for bilateral visits to the UAE and Bahrain, and will return to the French city of Biarritz on August 25 to attend the G7 Summit where India has been invited as a partner country.

Modi will arrive in France on Thursday evening and straightaway head for talks with Macron, who will also host a working dinner for the visiting leader.

The next day, he will meet French Prime Minister Edouard Charles Philippe, address an event of Indian community at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, and also inaugurate a memorial for Indian victims of two tragic air crashes of Air India flights in 1950 and 1966.

The discussions are expected to broadly focus on reaffirming France and India as the key strategic and like-minded partners, strengthening of defence partnership, including future defence acquisitions, progress on setting up of the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, convergent, strategic and political priorities in the Indo-Pacific and related operational needs, Secretary (Economic Relations) T S Tirumurti said.

Strengthening bilateral engagement in key areas of strategic cooperation such as defence, nuclear energy, space, counter-terrorism, maritime security, cyber security, International Solar Alliance, and joint development projects will also be deliberated upon, he said at a media briefing.

The deliverables of the visit are expected to be in the sectors of skill development, space, information and technology and cyber.