New Delhi: As India and France gear up to sign the 7 billion euro deal for 26 Rafale Marine aircraft, French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the European country in early February and attend the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Summit to be hosted in Paris.
“The Artificial Intelligence summit, a summit for action… will enable us to have an international discussion on artificial intelligence. Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi will be there immediately after a state visit to our country. This will enable us to have a dialogue with all the powers in AI,” said Macron, while speaking at the French Ambassadors’ Conference in Paris Monday.
The summit, which will be hosted on 10-11 February, is expected to draw a large gathering of heads of states and governments. The event builds on the milestones achieved at Bletchley Park (November 2023) and Seoul (May 2024) international AI summits. The themes planned for the Paris summit on AI include the future of work, innovation and culture and global governance in AI.
Previously, PM Modi had visited France in July 2023, when he was the chief guest at the Bastille Day celebrations. In January last year, the French President was invited as chief guest for India’s Republic Day celebrations. That time, Macron landed in Jaipur and held a roadshow with Modi, then held official delegation-level talks with the PM at Taj Rambagh Palace before leaving for New Delhi.
India and France are expected to sign the Rafale Marine aircraft deal during or just ahead of Modi’s visit to the European country, ThePrint had reported earlier.
The deal has been impacted by the revolving door at Hôtel Matignon, with France having four prime ministers in 2024 alone.
Incumbent PM François Bayrou was appointed on 13 December 2024, but may not last longer than February, given the fractured state of the National Assembly following Macron’s decision to call for snap polls in June last year.
With no major party having the majority, the government under previous PM Michel Barnier was ousted in a no-confidence motion following failure to pass the budget in December 2024.
Despite Macron’s domestic woes, ties between India and France have deepened during his presidency. Earlier this month, a French carrier strike group had made stopovers to Goa and Kochi as part of the annual bilateral exercise Varuna with the Indian Navy.
The two leaders most recently held a bilateral meeting on the margins of the G20 summit in the Brazilian city of Rio De Janeiro in November 2024, which was their third meeting last year. They had also met at the G7 summit in Apulia.
Macron earlier made two visits to India in the space of four months, for the G20 summit in September 2023 and then for Republic Day celebrations in January 2024.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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