New Delhi: Emmanuel Bonne, the diplomatic advisor to French President Emmanuel Macron, came to India on a day-long visit Friday to hold talks on critical issues, like military and nuclear cooperation, ahead of the Republic Day, ThePrint has learnt.
Macron will be the chief guest at the Republic Day parade and will be accompanied by a high profile delegation from France.
Sources in the defence and security establishment said that Bonne came to tie up the agenda for diplomatic talks to be held on the sidelines of the parade.
Sources said he met with National Security Adviser Ajit Doval among others.
Discussions focussed on a wide range of topics including space, defence, security and civil nuclear cooperation, it is learnt.
While a joint statement will be released after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Macron, emphasising on the close partnership and next phase of bilateral ties, no big contracts are likely to be signed, sources said.
They said big deals under discussion between India and France relate to the procurement of 26 Rafale Marine fighter jets for the Indian Navy, additional three Scorpene submarines and a deal for the Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) in Maharashtra.
Small Modular Reactors (SMR) and Advanced Modular Reactors (AMR) are also subjects that both countries are talking about.
Sources said while the civil nuclear deal was still a work in progress, the Scorpene and Rafale deals would only be inked later this year as techno-commercial negotiations have just started.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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