New Delhi: India and France have agreed on a broad industrial defence roadmap, and cooperation in the area of space and mobility that will allow five-year validity of the Schengen visa for Indian students with a Masters degree from a French institution.
This comes after French President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks during the former’s ongoing state visit to India, during which the French leader was also the chief guest at India’s Republic Day parade Friday.
The two leaders discussed cooperation in areas of defence, security, nuclear energy, space, clean energy, biodiversity, science and technology, digital domain and the economy.
While the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) did not confirm whether the issue of a French journalist facing expulsion was discussed between the two leaders, it said the case was raised by the French side and that it pertained to “compliance of rules and regulations”.
In a briefing Friday, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra announced a range of outcomes from the bilateral talks covering areas of defence, space, healthcare, clean energy and mobility.
These include an industrial defence roadmap aimed at joint military production, design and development and defence space partnership. A memorandum of undertanding (MoU) between New Space India Ltd and Alliance Space for satellite launches was also signed.
Private sector firms Tata and Airbus have also joined hands for helicopter production in India, for H125 helicopters with “a significant indigenous and localisation component”, Kwatra said.
Two agreements were struck between the Department of Science and Technology and French institutions for joint research in clean energy, decarbonised hydrogen, applied mathematics and precision agriculture.
Indian Ambassador to France Jawed Ashraf, also present at the briefing, said French multinational Safran was willing to share technology for the development of fighter jet engines in India.
“We’re not just looking for manufacturing transfer of technology which essentially keeps you going on the same crunches that you’ve been going on in the last six decades, but to work on the actual design phase — metallurgical aspects etc. Safran is fully willing to do that with a 100 percent transfer of technology… discussions will continue to take place,” the ambassador told reporters.
The two countries also plan to build a solar academy in Senegal under the framework of the International Solar Alliance (ISA).
Also read: India and France explore partnership for next ‘ambitious’ submarine plans
‘French side raised issue of journalist facing expulsion’
During the briefing, the foreign secretary said the French side had raised the issue of French journalist Vanessa Dougnac — who is facing expulsion from India — after receiving a notice from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) about withdrawal of her OCI card due to “malicious” reporting. ThePrint was the first to report on the matter.
However, the foreign secretary suggested the case pertained to compliance of rules and regulations in India.
“We are aware of the matter and it is being dealt with by the relevant department in the Government of India. The frame of reference to look at is the compliance with the rules and regulations in the country. I don’t think this has got anything to do with aspects of journalism. People are free to do what they are accredited to do,” he said.
This came hours after foreign correspondents in India penned an open letter stating they have “grappled with increasing visa restrictions” and reporters with OCI status have faced “particular difficulty”.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: Navy to set up team to negotiate deal for 26 Rafale Marines with France