Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, is scheduled to meet French President Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron in New Delhi in the fourth week of January 2024. The French President shall visit the South Asian nation to attend India’s Republic Day ceremony as the Chief Guest on January 26. Significantly, it shall be Modi’s last meeting with an important foreign leader in his current tenure as Prime Minister. It may be noted that India shall hold Parliamentary Polls in mid-2024.

According to diplomatic sources, the upcoming visit of the French President to India shall be an important one, as France has become India’s closest ally in Europe in recent times. Interestingly, Prime Minister Modi attended the Bastille Day parade in Paris as Chief Guest on July 14, 2023.

Be it the Kashmir issue or nuclear tests or the China issue, India has been receiving support from France for many decades. France, along with the UK and the UAE, extended support for India’s permanent membership at the UN Security Council (UNSC) in 2022. When the West had imposed embargo on India in 1974 and also in 1998 for conducting nuclear tests, France stood by the South Asian nation. Also, France was the first to pledge military assistance to India during the latter’s border dispute with neighbouring China in 2020.

On the other hand, these two countries have seldom interfered in each other’s internal affairs, respecting their respective democratic traditions. Incidentally, when Prime Minister Modi visited France in 2023, the European Parliament (EP) took up a resolution to criticise the Indian Government in the wake of violence and Human Rights violations in the north-eastern Indian Province of Manipur. Although the proposal was not diplomatically inappropriate, President Macron did not raise the issue during his meeting with Modi. Similarly, the India Prime Minister, too, did not raise the issue of the death of an Algerian migrant youth because of violence in France. Rather, a joint statement issued by the two leaders called for strengthening bilateral ties in key areas, such as defence, space and nuclear energy.

According to sources close to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), PM Modi shall thank President Macron for the latter’s unwavering support during his last meeting with the visiting President. Prime Minister Modi shall also assure France that the bilateral cooperation shall be increased in different sectors (from defence to space research), if he could form the Government again in New Delhi.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das